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“He’s got a great cricket brain and I think his record as England captain is actually pretty good.”

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2021Joe Root declined to answer questions about his own future as England’s captain after their innings defeat at the MCG but has been backed to stay on in the role after the Ashes by Chris Woakes despite losing the series.Root will become England’s most experienced Test captain during the fourth Test in Sydney, going clear of Alastair Cook by leading them for the 60th time, but despite his own record-breaking year with the bat, his side has lost nine of their last 12 Tests and have been thrashed in six consecutive games overseas.Related

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His captaincy has come in for heavy criticism throughout the Ashes series, starting at the toss in Brisbane when England left out James Anderson and Stuart Broad and opted to bat first on an underprepared, green pitch. When asked about his future as captain following the defeat in Melbourne, Root said that it would be “wrong to look past” the final two Tests of the series: “My energy has to be all about trying to win the next game,” he said. “I can’t be selfish and start thinking about myself.”The and the reported that Root had met Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, in Melbourne on Wednesday and signalled his desire to stay on as captain past the end of the series. And with a dearth of obvious candidates to replace him – Ben Stokes is his deputy but has endured a tough 18 months due to bereavement, injury and struggles with his mental health – and the support of the dressing room, Root looks likely to continue in the role.”Absolutely,” Woakes, one of the England players at an optional nets session, told reporters in Melbourne when asked if Root retained the team’s backing. “Joe is a great cricketer, he’s got a great cricket brain and I think his record as England captain is actually pretty good.”Definitely it feels like Joe will continue. Hopefully he will. It’s clear that the captaincy isn’t having an effect on his batting, which a lot of the time with captains can be the case. The fact that he’s scoring the runs he is, is great for the team.”It would be great if we could help him out with that and score a few more runs around him. Joe is a world-class player who has obviously had a fantastic year. When a guy bats as well as he has you would expect us to put in a lot stronger performances than we have.”

“Maybe from a mental point of view we lacked a little bit, or maybe we don’t trust our technique”

Firdose Moonda04-Jan-2021Dean Elgar helped himself to a little tipple before bed after day one at the Wanderers – something many other South Africans who have failed to stock up would have been envious of as the country navigates its third alcohol ban as part of coronavirus restrictions – but it was not necessarily to soothe his senses.Elgar had gone in on 92 not out, just a couple of shots away from his first Test hundred in 15 months, as well as shouldering the responsibility of steering his side into a strong position after Sri Lanka had mustered just 157 in their first innings.”I had a glass of wine and it made me sleep very well but I’ve been in the nineties overnight in first-class cricket before so it’s not my first time,” Elgar said. “I didn’t feel anything; I didn’t feel anxious. And I woke up nice and early as well thinking I might not wake up to my alarm. But no, I didn’t feel too nervous starting today’s play.”The jitters, if there had been any, had come during the course of the opening day. After racing to 39 off the first 44 balls he faced, Elgar was made to knuckle down, especially against Dasun Shanaka, who teased in the channel outside off and nipped the ball off the seam. Sri Lanka’s attack improved as the first afternoon wore on and they demanded discipline from Elgar and Rassie van der Dussen. Elgar’s next 53 runs took 75 balls.Related

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“We had to absorb a little bit and there were quite a few moments when we went through the gears,” he said. “You have to be able to adapt. You can’t just be batting in one gear and expect to be consistent.”Elgar expected he would have to shift tempo again on day two but it took just 14 balls for him to bring up his 13th Test hundred, becoming the first South African opener to raise his bat to triple figures in 11 home Tests. With the hard work having brought reward and van der Dussen well set, South Africa seemed to be shaping up to bat once – but when Elgar was dismissed off the edge to first slip, it sparked a collapse of 9 for 84 to leave South Africa on 302, a lead of 145. Elgar called the total “quite under-par, especially after that partnership”.Elgar and van der Dussen put on 184 for the second wicket but no other South African stand contributed more than 34 runs (that too involved Elgar with his opening partner Aiden Markram). The inability for the other batsmen to kick on and South Africa’s penchant for collapsing – this was the eighth time in 16 innings they have lost five wickets for less than 50 runs – is something Elgar was willing to interrogate more critically, although he wasn’t sure what is holding them back.”It’s maybe the nature of the pitches we are playing on, especially now. When you come into bat you’ve really got to be on the ball and it shows you how important it is to have batters in. I went out and then Rassie went out which is not ideal.”But maybe from a mental point of view we lacked a little bit, or maybe we don’t trust our technique. We’ve got to take conditions into account. Once you are able to get through that time and respect conditions, you can conquer the conditions. Being our first series at home we have played in a long time, we will address it and take it from there. I think it’s a mental thing and guys need to be made aware of it.”It’s something for South Africa to analyse post-series, around the bonfire, with some tipple for those who indulge. As things stand, South Africa can sleep on a favourable match situation and with a series win in sight, and Elgar warned Sri Lanka that it is the tourists who may need to keep the nightmares at bay.”With covers on the pitch overnight, there’s a bit of moisture and it’s still on top of the grass when we start the day’s play and the wicket deteriorates,” Elgar said. “Hopefully tomorrow morning, the wicket still has sideways movement which has caused quite a bit of trouble and there is still that moisture and deterioration.”

Coach believes new captain can rise to the workload of opening and keeping wicket as well

Firdose Moonda09-Feb-2020Mark Boucher has given Quinton de Kock’s captaincy a thumbs-up after his first series as the permanent ODI skipper, and expects former 50-over and current T20 captain Faf du Plessis to be back for the next series against Australia.De Kock will lead South Africa in three T20s against England next week before Australia visit for three ODIs and three T20s that will end on March 7. Du Plessis and Kagiso Rabada have been given extended rest for the England matches but Boucher expects both to return as South Africa continue to plan for the T20 World Cup and beyond.”Faf is still one of our best T20 players,” Boucher said. “We feel at this point in time he needs a bit of a break away from the game. It’s always good to have a bit of a rest. There is going to be a lot of cricket for them leading up to a World Cup so any opportunity we get to give guys a bit of rest and give other guys opportunities to see what they’re all about. I would like to think against Australia, the rest will be enough and they can come back and play.”De Kock, however, is having entirely the opposite experience and has played in all South Africa’s matches of the summer so far. Since being promoted to ODI captain he also now plays a treble role in leading the side, opening the batting and keeping wicket, something de Kock embraced pre-series and then excelled in, giving Boucher good reason to say he thinks “it is sustainable” for de Kock to have so much to do.”A lot of people questioned [MS] Dhoni when he was captaining India and he had a great captaincy record,” Boucher said. “Quinny enjoys being in the game. Sometimes he sits in the dressing room during Test-match cricket and he gets really irritated because he wants to be doing something all the time. I think he really enjoys it. The off-the-field stuff is the stuff that might get to him a bit. We’re going to have to help him in that regard. But certainly, on the field, he leads well.”De Kock also finished as the leading run-scorer in the series, with a match-winning century in Cape Town and a fifty at the Wanderers and was named player of the series. He was also innovative as captain, most notably when Tabraiz Shamsi was bowling. De Kock kept a slip in place in Cape Town, which resulted in the dismissal of Eoin Morgan and a legslip at Johannesburg, who aided in getting rid of Joe Root, and Boucher was impressed with de Kock’s ability to read the match situation and respond accordingly.ALSO READ: Archer not ‘overbowled’ by England, says Root“We always knew that Quinny has got a very smart cricketing brain. He had a couple of different field placings which I thought were good and he was thinking out of the box,” Boucher said. “Quinny is unique and I think the uniqueness of him can work wonders in a dressing room like this because we’ve got a unique set-up as well.”In a brief post-match television interview, de Kock revealed that not much had changed about his approach or his game plan and that he benefitted from having a group of players who he could consult on the field. That included Rassie van der Dussen, now considered a senior member of the team after just a year in the international game, and Temba Bavuma and Jon-Jon Smuts, both franchise captains on the domestic scene. The collective core of experience and the freshness of young players created a team atmosphere that de Kock enjoyed being part of. “The energy really stood out for me,” de Kock said.Although South Africa were disappointed with their batting performance in Johannesburg and Boucher thought they were “30-40 runs short”, they were satisfied with what the series showed them about their depth. Boucher singled out the performances of 21-year-old quick Lutho Sipamla, who took 1 for 42 in 9.2 overs at the Wanderers, and Bavuma, who was South Africa’s second-highest-scorer, as showing good signs for the future.”I thought Lutho bowled really well today,” Boucher said. “And Temba had a good knock in Cape Town, which was probably deserving of a hundred although you’re going to say he was two [too?] short. [Cue awkward pun laughter] But the way he came in, he dominated from the first ball he faced, which was great to see. He looks the part in that No.3 position. Today he got out lbw, but that happens. He is one of the pluses that I’ve seen in this series.”At the same time, Boucher acknowledged that South Africa still have a lot of work to do before they are ready for the T20 World Cup and will use the Australia series to experiment further.”All the white-ball cricket from now up until the World Cup is giving guys opportunities and seeing what they can do in pressure situations,” he said. “We are trying to look ahead to a World Cup in Australia and we are looking at different options that we’ve got. We will use the next three games against Australia to find some answers and ask some questions.”

The opener finished unbeaten on 160 while Marcus Stoinis made a return to first-class cricket

AAP10-Feb-2023A career-best innings from Daniel Drew lifted Sheffield Shield outsiders South Australia to a strong position against runaway leaders Western Australia after the opening day at Adelaide Oval.Drew remained unbeaten on 160, having posted a second first-class century in eight outings and eclipsing his previous best of 130 in the process.Entering the fray in the 10th over following Jake Carder’s dismissal for 6, Drew looked comfortable throughout, finding the boundary on 18 occasions during a 272-ball knock.In concert with opener Henry Hunt, Drew featured in the best partnership of the day, leaving the Redbacks sitting pretty at 1 for 171 during the middle session.WA medium-fast bowler Charlie Stobo led the way on a tough day in the field for the visitors, returning 2 for 40 from 20 overs.Jake Lehmann contributed a typically breezy 26 before being caught down the leg side, while Thomas Kelly added 39 before he was dismissed late in the day.Western Australia went into the match with two high-profile inclusions in the form of Marcus Stoinis – playing his first red-ball state match for nearly three years – as well as veteran batter Shaun Marsh for the first time this season.South Australia, in contrast, were without their Test stars Travis Head and Alex Carey, while paceman David Grant (stress fracture) and long-term opener Jake Weatherald (personal) were also absent.Holders WA boast four wins from six starts while SA only broke through for their first victory of the season in the final match prior to the mid-summer break.

Best-known for his dedication to collating and preserving the records of players who were otherwise unrecognised in segregated South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Oct-2022Krish Reddy, the pre-eminent record-keeper of black and non-racial cricket in South Africa, has died. Reddy was involved in the game as a player, administrator, selector and historian, and was best-known for his dedication to collating and preserving the records of players who were otherwise unrecognised in segregated South Africa, and for telling their stories. Reddy succumbed to heart failure. He was 77.In 1999, Reddy published a book, , an anthology of black cricket in Natal. He also co-authored , a book published in 2002 on the struggles of cricketers of colour in KwaZulu-Natal. His numbers on Basil D’Oliveira in black cricket in South Africa were included in the appendix to Peter Oborne’s book, . He was also part of the panel of 100 players, writers, umpires, historians and other watchers of the game from around the world who selected Wisden’s five cricketers of the century.Reddy also served on the executive board of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Cricket Union, and worked as a selector in the region.KZN Cricket president, Yunus Bobat, paid tribute to Reddy, saying: “This is a great loss for KZN and a sad day for the South Africa cricket fraternity. We will always appreciate and honour the unwavering passion Krish showed to uplift our beautiful game.”

His century stand with Wiaan Mulder lifted South Africa A from 142 for 5 to 400; Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets for India A

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2019For the first time on their tour of India, South Africa A showed some fight. After managing just 164 and 186 in their seven-wicket loss in the first four-day game, their batting clicked, with Aiden Markram, who in all likelihood will open for South Africa in the first of three Tests starting on October 2 in Visakhapatnam, top-scoring with 161 in Mysore.His 155-run sixth-wicket stand with allrounder Wiaan Mulder, who made his fourth first-class century, lifted South Africa A from 142 for 5. They were eventually bowled out for 400 but came within 17 runs of India A’s 471, which was put together on the back of half-centuries from Shubman Gill (92), Karun Nair (78), Shivam Dube (68) and Wriddhiman Saha (60).Mulder, who picked up three wickets in the first innings, remained unbeaten on 131 when last man Lungi Ngidi was dismissed in the 110th over, in the final session on the third day. The spinners bowled more than half the overs for India A, 65.3 to be precise, with Kuldeep Yadav picking up 4 for 121 in 29 overs. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who had three wickets, complemented him. Left out of the Test squad after the Caribbean tour, Umesh Yadav went wicketless after 18 overs of toil.In reply, Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who lost out to Gill in the race to the third opener’s slot, took India A to 14 for no loss in six overs when bad light forced an early end to proceedings. India A’s overall lead stands at 31, with draw looking the most likely result with one day remaining.India A earlier took the one-day series 4-1 in Thiruvananthapuram before winning the first four-dayer comprehensively.

India ponder their bowling combination, while New Zealand look to end their three-match losing streak as the teams face off in the first semi-final

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy08-Jul-20194:16

Agarkar: India still need a sixth bowling option

Big picture

Brathwaite c Boult b Neesham 101. It’s been 16 days since that happened, and it’ll be 17 days when Tuesday’s semi-final begins. For New Zealand, it will be 17 winless days.And yet, here they are, two wins away from getting their hands on the World Cup. The carping about all the things that have brought New Zealand to this point – the tournament format, the privileging of the net run rate as tie-breaker above head-to-head or any other measure, the washing-out of key matches – is immaterial now.They’re semi-finalists. Just the same as India, Australia and England. Equals, even if they aren’t widely seen as that.When Sanjay Manjrekar asked them who their preferred semi-final opponents would be, after India’s win over Sri Lanka on Saturday, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were far too smart to give him a proper answer. Manjrekar made his own preference clear – “I would want India to play New Zealand more than England” – and while India’s vice-captain and captain may have agreed with him privately, they know there’s no such thing as an easy semi-final.They know all the pressure will be on India, all the expectations theirs to live up to. They topped the league table for a reason, and are favourites for precisely that reason. They have the top two batsmen in ODI cricket, and the No. 1 bowler, and their players have too much experience of big games to treat them as anything but what they actually are: cricket matches like any other, which they are perfectly equipped to win – no matter who they’re facing and in what conditions.New Zealand have lived most of their cricketing history as underdogs, and they will relish being where they are. “People aren’t expecting us to win, and from my point of view I think that’s a good place to be in,” their coach Gary Stead said on Sunday. “If that’s the case we can go out there and hopefully play with some real freedom.”That kind of freedom can make any good team dangerous, and New Zealand, for all their recent travails, are more than just a good team. They have a top-drawer pace attack, a group of quality top-order batsmen, and allrounders who give them enviable depth. Form hasn’t been a friend to some of their big-name players, but who’s to say Tuesday won’t be their day?Pakistan’s 1992 revival tour is over, but New Zealand might be thinking of their own version of it. Of being the team that scraped through in fourth place, with dollops of luck on their side, before hitching themselves to an irresistible wave of… what’s Kiwi for ?

Form guide

India WWLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LLLWWVirat Kohli sets off for a run•IDI via Getty Images

In the spotlight

He missed the match against England with a hamstring strain, but he’s returned to fitness, and New Zealand will be delighted to have Lockie Ferguson back in their attack. Ferguson is their highest wicket-taker in this World Cup, with 17 at 18.58, and his key contributions have come in the middle overs (11-40), where he’s taken 12 of his wickets, at 17.20, while only conceding 4.4 per over. No one’s taken more wickets in the middle overs in this tournament, and no one who’s bowled at least 20 overs in this phase has a better average or economy rate. Ferguson’s presence ensures New Zealand’s attack has bite right through the innings, and India will be mindful of his threat.India have plenty of decisions to make over their bowling combination, one of which is whether to pick a sixth bowler. Whether or not they do so, Hardik Pandya will have an important role to play. Virat Kohli has talked up his ability to “think like a batsman” while he’s bowling, and teams have found it difficult to put away his cutters and slower bouncers, but if the Old Trafford pitch – a fresh strip is to be used for the semi-final – is flat, New Zealand could look to go after him and see how he handles it.

Team news

Two quicks or three? Two wristspinners, one, or none? The batting line-up seems more settled than the bowling attack, but India might be tempted to bring back Kedar Jadhav and give themselves six bowling options.India: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Rishabh Pant, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik/Kedar Jadhav, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 and 10 two out of Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit BumrahNew Zealand seem to have an easier selection to make, with one expected change in the pace attack with Ferguson returning in place of Tim Southee.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Henry Nicholls, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 James Neesham, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

Old Trafford has been a resolutely bat-first venue in recent times, with the team doing so winning each of the five most recent ODIs at the venue. The average first-innings score in those matches has been 323 for 6, so a flat pitch can be expected. Pace (62 wickets at 28.9, economy of 5.7) has been more of a threat than spin (12 wickets at 89.4, economy of 6.1) in those five games.Overhead conditions could be influential, with cloudy skies expected over Manchester and intermittent showers forecast for Tuesday.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Strategy punt

• Jadhav has nine wickets against New Zealand – the most he has taken against any team in ODIs – at an average of 29.00. His economy against them is less than five, and he has dismissed Kane Williamson and Tom Latham twice each. That record might tempt India to bring Jadhav back in place of Dinesh Karthik and give themselves the sixth bowling option they lacked in their last two matches.
• If Pandya comes in to bat during the middle overs, New Zealand could look to match him up with Mitchell Santner. The left-arm spinner uses his pace variations cleverly if he’s being attacked, and he has held his own when up against Pandya, dismissing him three times in four meetings while conceding 25 off 30 balls.

Stats that matter

• India and New Zealand have met seven times in World Cups, with New Zealand winning four times (1975, 1979, 1992 and 1999) and India three times (twice in 1987 and once in 2003). The 2003 meeting, in the Super Six stage, was the only one outside the group stages.
• India have appeared in six World Cup semi-finals before this, and won three of them. New Zealand have been in seven semi-finals, and won only one of them, in 2015.
• Rohit (647) is 26 short of Sachin Tendulkar’s record tally of runs at a single World Cup – 673 in the 2003 edition.
• Williamson hasn’t had a great time against India’s wristspinners in ODIs. He’s scored 53 off 69 balls while being dismissed twice by Yuzvendra Chahal, and fallen twice to Kuldeep Yadav while scoring 18 off 25 balls. Overall, he’s averaged 33.9 against legspin in ODIs since the start of 2016, and 17.8 against left-arm wristspin. He’s averaged above 50 against all other kinds of bowling.
• The semi-final will be MS Dhoni’s 350th ODI match.
• Ross Taylor is one short of 50 fifties in ODIs.

Quotes

“Yes, we played with five bowling options because it gives us more depth in batting and mentioning the toss factor as well, if you are chasing a big total, then you need a bit more depth in batting. So yes, we played with five. We are up to reviewing that. Otherwise… I was just told I got Kane [Williamson] out (in the Under-19 World Cup semi-finals in 2008) so I can bowl any time… Yes, having said that, it’s open for a discussion because we need to be very balanced with what we take into the field.”
“Every side in this top four has beaten each other on a number of occasions. No side has gone through the comp[eition] unbeaten, so there are a lot of parts to it that make this top four really exciting.”

Shan Masood makes 96, Shutt takes four wickets but hosts ease to comfortable win

ECB Reporters Network22-Aug-2023Joe Cracknell’s highest white-ball score allowed Middlesex to finish their Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign with a comfortable five-wicket win over Yorkshire at Radlett.The former Durham University student thrashed 87 from 65 balls with the help of 17 fours as the hosts chased down a target of 254 with 93 balls to spare despite a career-best 4 for 49 for Yorkshire spinner Jack Shutt. Cracknell shared a stand of 120 in 86 balls with Sam Robson who made 62Earlier, Tykes skipper Shan Masood batted more than three hours for 96, sharing stands of 85 and 83 with Matthew Revis and Dominic Bess, who both made 51. However, they mustered only 26 from the final five overs, with Middlesex all-rounder Ryan Higgins taking four wickets in the final six balls to finish with 4 for 39.The visitors were soon questioning their decision to bat first as Ethan Bamber and Blake Cullen found early movement on a slightly two-paced pitch. James Wharton miscued one from Cullen which stopped on him a fraction to Josh De Caires at mid-wicket without a run on the board, before Bamber had William Luxton smartly caught by wicketkeeper John Simpson.Finlay Bean soon followed spooning another from Cullen to skipper Mark Stoneman at cover and it would have been 31-4 had Cracknell clung on to a tough chance at slip when Masood had made 18. The miss proved costly as the Pakistani international dropped anchor to play a long innings of few fireworks while others added much needed acceleration.Revis was first to sparkle, plundering three boundaries in one wayward Martin Andersson over. He reached 50 in the grand manner with a six over mid-wicket off Luke Hollman, but the leg-spinner extracted almost immediate revenge, running out Revis with a direct hit from square leg.Bess picked up where Revis left off, driving powerfully both sides of the wicket. He too would be dropped on the square leg fence by Cracknell, the ball escaping over the rope for six as he reached 50 in 42 balls.When he lofted De Caires to Andersson in the deep Harry Duke took up the baton with some lusty blows, but he fell to Bamber and the innings stalled, Masood becoming one of Higgins’s four victims in that dramatic final over.Chasing 254, Cracknell unfurled a series of drives square of the wicket while Stoneman twice hit Benjamin Cliff back over his head as 50 was raised inside five overs. Stoneman feathered one through to Duke, but Robson joined Cracknell to continue the onslaught, the former England opener lofting a six over deep square provoking a spectacular crowd catch.Such was the ferocity of the batting, successive fours from Cracknell, including a glorious strike over bowler Shutt’s head raised the 100 partnership in only 73 balls.A sixth four took Robson to 50 from 40 balls and Middlesex were in cruise control before Cracknell missed a full toss from Shutt to end his hopes of a first white-ball century.There seemed little danger at 171 for 2 but the wicket sparked an inspired spell from the 26-year-old off-spinner who had Higgins caught in the deep, before snaffling Robson and Jack Davies from the first two balls after the drinks break, both caught by Luxton at cover.Andersson might have been stumped of Bess as nerves jangled briefly, but he and beneficiary Simpson saw the hosts home in the 35th over.

Punjab were 52 for 2, chasing 195 in 39 overs, when the weather put paid to play

The Report by Hemant Brar in Alur21-Oct-2019No result Tamil Nadu qualified for the semi-finals of the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy on the basis of more wins in the league stage after rain washed out their quarter-final against Punjab in Alur. The match was evenly poised at the time of the call off, but Tamil Nadu’s nine out of nine wins to Punjab’s five out of eight saw them through.Due to a wet outfield, the game itself started 45 minutes late, as a 47-over contest, and was further reduced to 39-overs-a-side when a passing shower brought a pre-mature end to Tamil Nadu’s innings. At that stage, Tamil Nadu were 174 for 6, thanks to B Aparajith’s 56.Chasing a VJD-adjusted target of 195, Punjab reached 52 for 2 in 12.2 overs before it started raining again, this time bringing a complete end to play.ALSO READ: Dinesh Karthik tells the story of Tamil Nadu’s nine wins in a rowTamil Nadu had a nervy start after being put in. Abhinav Mukund tried to impose himself but ended up chopping Sandeep Sharma onto his stumps. M Vijay struck two fours, flicking Sidharth Kaul’s pace with ease over midwicket, but he missed the same shot against left-arm spinner Karan Kalia and was lbw for 22.When Mayank Markande dismissed Vijay Shankar, Tamil Nadu were 82 for 3. Aparajith and Dinesh Karthik took the side past 100 before Karthik pulled a long hop from Markande straight to short midwicket.Aparajith though kept chipping away and took his tournament tally past 500. Along the way, he smashed a free hit from Sanvir Singh over long-on, pulled Sandeep over deep-backward square leg and brought up his fifty in 68 balls. Washington Sundar held it together at the other end as the duo added 51 in 59 balls. Aparajith was looking set for a big score but he ended up hitting an innocuous Gurkeerat Mann delivery straight to deep midwicket. In his next over, Mann dismissed Shahrukh Khan in the same manner as well.Punjab lost Abhishek Sharma in the fourth over of their chase. Anmolpreet Singh hit a couple of boundaries before Sai Kishore got him caught-behind, leaving Punjab 37 for 2 at the end of seven overs. Sanvir hit a couple of good-looking drives to keep the chase on track but the rain had other plans.

Ashleigh Gardner named new vice-captain after Rana’s elevation to captaincy

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2023Laura Wolvaardt has been signed up by Gujarat Giants as replacement for the injured Beth Mooney for the remainder of the Women’s Premier League. Wolvaardt, who was in Pakistan playing in the PCB’s Women’s League exhibition matches, has been released by her team Super Women, and her compatriot Sune Luus has replaced her for the tournament.As for the leadership at the Giants set-up in the WPL, original vice-captain Sneh Rana has been elevated to captain while Australia allrounder Ashleigh Gardner is the new vice-captain.Mooney, the designated captain at Giants, suffered a calf injury during their tournament opener against Mumbai Indians. Giants were chasing Mumbai’s 207 for 5, and in the first over of the chase, Mooney appeared to hurt her knee when stopping and turning around while trying to steal a run. She retired hurt straightaway, and Giants lost the match by a massive 143 runs after they were bowled out for 64. Mooney hasn’t played since, though she has been spotted with her colleagues at subsequent Giants matches. She later returned to training but was advised rest of 4-6 weeks.”I was really looking forward to the maiden WPL season with the Adani Gujarat Giants. But unfortunately, injuries are part and parcel of the sport and I am gutted to be missing the remainder of the season,” Mooney said via a statement. “I, however, will be keeping a close eye on the team’s performance from afar and will be rooting for them every single day. And though I will be away from the field of play for the rest of the season, I am looking forward to coming back stronger, fitter and I will definitely be hungrier next season. For now, I wish the Adani Gujarat Giants squad all the very best for the rest of the WPL season.”A first-time captain at a high level, Mooney was picked up at the WPL auction last month for INR 2 crore (US$ 244,000 approx.), in a side with many Australians. Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham and Annabel Sutherland are all part of the squad.Having come into the WPL after scoring 74 not out in 53 balls in Australia’s win over South Africa in the T20 World Cup final, Mooney was expected to be the frontperson of the Giants batting, a role Wolvaardt, who had gone unsold at the player auction, might well have to play now.At the Women’s League, Wolvaardt was in good form in her only appearance, scoring 53 not out in 36 balls as Super Women beat Amazons by eight wickets in the first game of the tournament.”I want to thank the PCB for this opportunity to play in the Women’s League exhibition matches. It has been an incredible short journey, but I have loved the experience. The team has been amazing and I have felt so welcoming,” Wolvaardt said in a statement released by the PCB on Wednesday. “I wish both sides the best of luck with rest of the series. I am sure both sides will strive hard and they will do well and learn a lot from the experience they will get from the matches.”I cannot wait to return to Pakistan in September with South Africa’s national women’s team and learning more about this amazing country.”Luus recently led South Africa to the final of the T20 World Cup after being appointed captain once Dane van Niekerk, the regular captain, failed a fitness test and was left out of the squad.