Sri Lanka Under 19s Tour of England - Second Test

With very passing session, the final Youth Test between England and Sri Lanka turned more and more into a glorified net session as each team exhibited their batting prowess.

 

Day One was dominated by a fourth wicket partnership that was worth 202 runs that was only broken with three overs left in the day as Lancashire’s Matthew Hurst had his innings terminated by a short ball to see England end the day on 264-2.

 

They added a further 140 runs in the morning session on Day Two before promising all-rounder Shevon Daniel stuck his hand up and batted throughout the rest of Day Two and throughout the morning session of Day Three to claim 155 runs. The Sri Lankan tail did not crumble, in fact they became more aggressive as Vinuja Ranpul, bagged an 108 ball 65. Day Three ended with the Sri Lankans holding a 99 run lead.

 

Eternal optimists may have hoped for the Sri Lankans to declare at the start of Day 4 but there was no such luck as the game rumbled on. Sri Lanka batted their innings out for 542 which meant that England had a glorified net session in the afternoon. One that their captain, Durham's Ben McKinney, impressed with - scoring 74 from 104 balls 

Maharaja T20 Trophy Player Round-Up

In the tournament where it didn’t really matter who won, Gulbarga won. This was even though none of their players really stood out in terms of individual excellence.

The two names who should be most pleased with themselves are Bengalaru’s Mayanak Agarwal and Mysuru’s Vidyadhar Patil.

 

Clearly Agarwal is a big name and was the premier batter in the competition. He was the only player to have registered 2 centuries and was the leading run scorer with 496 @ 49.6. On the other end of the experience scale, Patil would have caught some eyes with his 17 wickets across the tournament @ 22.52. His best figures of 4-24 against Hubli in the final round of group matches was the tournament’s fifth best score.

 

Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers Round-Up

 

Hong Kong have pulled an absolute stunner and beaten the UAE today to seal their place in the Asia Cup. At the start of the day’s play 3 of the 4 teams could have been in with a shot of qualifying however the evening match turned into a straight shoot out between Hong Kong – who had won both of their first two games and, the UAE who had a 50-50 record. UAE, the twelfth ranked team in the world were then comprehensively beaten by Hong Kong after having already been downed by Kuwait (ranked 27^th) earlier in the week.

In terms of Hong Kong players to look out for when they face off against Messrs Azam and Sharma next week, the tournament’s highest scorer Yasim Murtaza is clearly a talent. He got 130 at a strike rate of 125 and an average of 43.33. Meanwhile Ehsan Khan has looked a very competent T20 bowler bagging 9 @ 9.

 

In terms of the best of the eliminated teams; the ever-present Chirag Suri got the tournament’s highest score – 88 off 61 balls for the UAW in their loss to Kuwait whilst Yasin Patel got the best figures for a bowler – 4-22 for Kuwait against Singapore.

 

The main event starts on Saturday with Sri Lanka against Afghanistan at 3PM UK time. For those who have Sky it is apparently being shown on Ustav Gold – channel 717. 

Sri Lanka Under 19s Tour of England - First Test

 A very run heavy game between England and Sri Lanka Under 19s saw the tourists pip the young Englishmen with a thrilling chase in the dying dregs of the final day.

 

The game was very metronomic throughout. Practically one innings per day and one century per team. First up was Lancashire’s George Bell who got 107 in the first innings. He and Durham’s Ross Whitfield put on an impressive 185 run third wicket partnership, however the rest of the established batters all got a start but did not kick on. Bell’s century (and doesn’t it feel good to say that again) came in a mere 88 balls. Bell-ball perhaps?  England were all out towards the end of Day One.

 

Day Two was dominated by the batting heroics of Asith Wanninayake. The young Kurunegala batter batted grittily all day long on Day Two and went to stumps on 132* off 314 balls. Gallingly (or maybe Galle-ingly) he was removed for the gain of no run on the morning of Day Three, however the tail held on and Sri Lanka managed to close on 407 – a lead of 20.

 

Ross Whitfield then added to his impressive haul of 86 in the first dig to then get a century of his own in England’s second innings – this was not as quick as Bell’s on the first day but a strike rate of 82.08 is a decent lick. Again, the scores around him were not as impressive and England could only muster 292, which set Sri Lanka a target of 273.

 

England would have been confident of the win at 48-4 and then again at 95-8 but Ranuda Somarathne decided to fight fire with fire and got a more than run a ball century for Sri Lanka to close it out with minutes left in the day’s play.

 

A thoroughly entertaining 4 days 0 with another one scheduled for Derby, starting on Sunday.

 

Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers Update

 

 With a qualification event that continues through Wednesday in Oman, the Asia Cup 2022 in a sense gets under way today. All of the matches in that competition will be played at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground between the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuwait. The victor advances to the main tournament, where they will face India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

The primary competition consists of six teams, split into two groups:

 

Group A is the qualifying team, Pakistan, and India whilst Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka make up Group B.

 

The top two teams in each group advance to the Super 4 round. The top two teams advance to the final game after each team plays every other team there once.

 

The first qualifying game looked fairly even on paper as Singapore played Hong Kong. Hong Kong batted first and registered 148. In reply Singapore burst out the blocks and were way ahead of the required run rate in the first six overs. However, they could not keep it up after Hong Kong regularly took wickets off of them to slow their progress. They needed 15 off the final over which was a bit too much for them – even when you throw in a wide. The star man for Hong Kong was Ehsan Khan with 3-20.

 

Kuwait plays the UAE tomorrow.

 

 

 

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 Mini-Update

 

Defying national stereotypes, Scotland was the only British country who had an unaffected day of cricket today – and the Americans took advantage of that by downing the host nation in a thriller. Scotland can lay their loss squarely at the door of their established batters. 4 of their top 5 made a total of 20 runs…. the fact that the other one made 133 softened that blow rather. Callum MacLeod came in at 31-3 and then held everything together to make it a decent total on the day. MacLeod became the 17th man to have five or more innings scoring 133 or more in ODI cricket history. In the ranking, he is the sole Associate player, placing him with some extremely distinguished company.

 

The chase was competitive throughout and it looked like America were letting it slip away at the halfway mark but a couple of big overs put them back on track. It was all still to play for in the final over, where America needed 15 to win – but after a first ball 6 followed by two boundaries it was game over.

 

And thus endeth the Scottish leg with Scotland in second place, the USA in 3^rd and the UAE in 4^th. Oman still have a 4 point lead at the top of the table. 

SLC Invitational T20 League Mini Wrap Up

 

Didn’t get across this tournament as much as I would have liked to over the last week or so, however, as was clear from the outset, SLC Reds were the predominant force right the way through to the final which took place today in Colombo.

 

After being set only 136 to win, captain Kusal Mendis led from the front and carried his bat to claim 56 runs off 45 balls and help his team lift the trophy. He was the tournament’s highest runscorer with 206 @ 68.66 and also got the tournament’s highest individual score. Cream rises to the top.

 

It underlines just how strong the Reds were that his team mate Ajitha Fernando was also the highest wicket taker (10 @ 11) and also the player who registered the best bowling figures in the innings (4-22)

 

Maharaja T20 Trophy Player Update

Bengaluru players continue to dominate this competition. Mayank Agarwal is still the tournament top run scorer with 296 @ 59.2 and he is being backed up by his bowlers – most notably T Pradeep who has got the best figures of the last two rounds of the competition courtesy of a threefer against a luckless Mangalore outfit today.

In terms of those lads on the IPL radar, there is lots to like for RCB fans, Shubhang Hegde still leads out the bowlers adding 3 more wickets in his last two games for Mysuru. His RCB team-mate Luvinth Sisodia would have turned out in the last campaign after gaining a contract, however injury kept him out. He has kept himself at the forefront with a  55 ball 96 to carry his bat in a victory for Hubli against Gulbarga. 

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 Mini-Update

 

After doing so well in the earlier stages of the competition, UAE have really gone off the boil of late. This has been marked by them losing by the 13th largest margin of the tournament as they were rifled out for 168 chasing Scotland's 254.

After yesterday's batter reliant game, today's game was dominated by Scotland bowler Mark Watt whose 5-33 was also 13th (again!) Best bowling figures in an innings.

UAE and USA face off tomorrow. 

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 Mini-Update

 It was the battle of the two centurions - however it was the batter who scored the fewer runs that prevailed in the end.

Aaron Jones' 123 made up a fair whack of the American team total of 295. In reply Scotland made things seem slightly easier courtesy of a slower but still impressive score of 117 as they chased it down with 14 balls remaining.

Scotland play the UAE tomorrow. 

Maharaja T20 Trophy Player Update

 

The current season of the Maharaja T20 Trophy 2022 is now a third of the way through the group stage.  Six teams compete in the Maharaja T20 Trophy in 2022, and which is based around teams from Karnataka's top clubs.

The Maharaja T20 Trophy includes household names like Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Mithun, and Manish Pandey as well as some more peripheral IPL players – despite this the most successful players thus far are relative newbies.

 

This is best seen in the relative anonymity of the most impressive bowlers. Shubhang Hegde is a 21 year old product of the Karanataka youth system who is definitely on RCB’s radar and has turned out as a net bowler for them previously. The young man, playing for Mysuru, has 7 wickets across the tournament with a best of 4-11. The sole fivefer so far comes from one of those players so obscure that they are missing a first name and a date of birth on Cricinfo. D. Avinash got his 5-40 in Shivamogga’s loss to Gulbaraga on Tuesday.

It seems like this is turning into something of a batsmen’s tournament in recent days – all of the top 7 scores have come in the last 3 days. Leading the way is 112* in 47 balls from Rohan Patil. If he wasn’t on an IPL radar he certainly is now. The second highest score came courtesy of a more familiar name – Mayank Agarwal. His 102* today in the evening game between Bengalaru and Shivamogga has added to his 139 from the last three games to see him clear as the top run scorer.

 

ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 Update

  

The second leg of the Scottish section of the ICC men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament has begun poorly for the United Arab Emirates. On a blustery day in Aberdeen where a long pause in the game was caused by both sight screens being blown down so violently that thy snapped in half, the United States of America, got their first win in their last four games and inflicted the UAE to their second successive loss to the Yanks.

Monak Patel’s score of 85 from 98 balls provided the spine to the USA’s chase of 253 that went right down to the wire. A late cluster of wickets where the States went from 231-5 to 250-9 made it riskier than they would have liked but the tail had just enough to hold it together.

 

The game’s continue throughout next week with Scotland versus America the next fixture on Saturday. 

SLC Invitational T20 League Update

 

The SLC Invitational League is, in essence, a training camp on steroids. The top 44 white ball specialists in the land pitted against each other over the course of a week is quiet a tantalising prospect and one that I would encourage the ECB to have a look at.

 

The teams are supposed to be fairly evenly matched, however that did not seem the case today – especially in the marine-coloured derby between Blues and Greens, where the Greens were shot out for a mere 90 runs in a chase of 122. A lot for the Greens to work on there.

 

In terms of early competition form it is the Red who look in the finest fettle, boasting, as they did, the highest individual run-scorer, the highest-wicket taker and winning their opening match. Much like the Blues, the Greys put on 120 in their first knock – which could have been more if not for Asitha Fernando’s 4-22. If you thought that 120 was par for this ground, then you would be deceived by the fact that the Reds chased it down with 19 balls in the bank. Lasith Croospulle, a veteran of the Under-23s and the A team but yet to get a full international, top-scored with a 44 ball 54.

 

On Wednesday, the least impressive team are up against the most as the Greens face the Reds in the morning game, whilst the Greys are up against the Blues in the afternoon. 

Shpageeza Cricket League Final Update

 

Speen Ghar hit their straps at just the right time to spring a surprise on Boost and claim the Shpageeza Cricket League Trophy 2022.

The only games they have lost this season have been against Boost, twice in the group stages and again in Qualifier 1 – but they got the victory when it matters most. Their first innings total of 188-4 is the fourth highest of the tournament and always looked a challenge for Boost who have never achieved higher than 182 in the tournament. This challenge was only expedited by the fact they went on to lose wickets in clusters throughout their chase. The first cluster was in the opening overs where they were 7-2. Hashmatullah Shahidi then held things together but Boost never got their worm wiggling anywhere close to Speen Ghar’s. Hashmatullah’s 55 ball 90 is the third highest total of the tournament and sees him overtake two batters who started the day with more runs and finish as the highest run-scorer (411 @ 58.71). Qais Ahmed ended the tournament with the best bowling figures with 14 wickets at an average of 14.07. 

Shpageeza Cricket League Update

 

The problem with the IPL style of Knockout rounds in T20 competitions is that it too often goes exactly to form. This is exactly what has happened here. 1^st played second in the first qualifier, 3^rd beat 4^th and then 2^nd beat 3^rd to make the final a repeat of the first qualifier; namely Boost vs Speen Ghar.

 

Unfortunately, today’s final qualifier wasn’t even marginally close. After putting on 140-9, Kabul were all out for 77. This represents the 3^rd largest margin of victory by runs in the tournament. Najbullah Zadran helped Speen Ghar to turn it round from an uninspiring powerplay. He eventually top-scored on the day with 67* off 47. This sees him knock Kabul’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz off the top of the run-scoring table as we approach Friday’s final.

 

When you get a team out for fewer than a hundred runs there will always be a player with very favourable bowling figures; today that was Faeed Ahmed who got 3-15 – the 13^th best figures of the tournament. Kabul and Kent’s Qais Ahmed got 2-23 earlier in the day which takes him to the top of the wicket tally – but Yamin Ahmadzai needs just 2 in the final to overtake him at the last. 

Bangladesh Tour of ZImbabwe

 Zimbabwe defeated Bangladesh by 10 runs in the third game of the T20I series in Harare to secure their first victory over a higher-ranked team. To the delight of the packed spectators, the host team rallied from 67 for 6 to finish on a respectable 156 for 8, then held Bangladesh to 146 for 8 in 20 overs.

 

Ryan Burl was the man to turn around Zimbabwe’s fortunes as his 28 ball 54 saw them pull off the escape job and claim the historic victory. He notably scored 34 off a single over to help boost his own personal total as well as his team's.  

 

The 3 ODIs will now play out from Friday until Wednesday next week.

 

 

Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Overs Tournament Final

 Tamil Union pulled off a surprise win over the Sri Lankan Army in a rain affected match to lift the Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Overs Tournament Trophy.

 

Even though their chase was marred by two bouts of rain, Tamil Union were the worthy winners after they had the Sri Lankan Army 84-6 within the first 20 overs. The Army then rallied to 198 all out one ball short of their allocated overs. Tamil’s star man was Santhush Gunathilake whose 3-14 encompassed three of the top 4 batters. With the first shorter period of rain knocking the game down to 46 overs, Tamil Union ended up needing 153 in 37 overs and reached it with great comfort.

Despite not reaching the knockout stages, Kasun Vidura’s 631 @ 63.1 was enough to see him lead the run scorers. Similarly, Burgher’s Divindu Tillakaratne’s 36 wickets @ 9.55 sees him as the best bowler of the tournament. 

Shpageeza Cricket League Update

 

And just like that the group stages of this tournament are over.

 

Boost’s qualification has been a dead cert since about half way through the tournament but Speen Ghar have underlined that they are no push over in their final two games. In their penultimate game they registered the highest tournament score up to that point and then shattered it in their final game today – registering 214-4 against Band-e-Amir. They will face off against Boost tomorrow to qualify directly for Friday’s final.

 

Mis Ainak slipped into the final qualification place today courtesy of an emphatic win against whipping boys Hindukush who have only won a solitary game this year. Allah Mohammad’s 4-15 limited Hindukush to 104, which Mis Ainak chase down in 8 overs, and swung their NRR above Amo’s. Their first mission is to beat Kabul tomorrow to get into the second qualifier. Kabul themselves have ended with a high as their talismanic batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz got the highest individual score of the tournament – and at some lick too. His 121* against Hindukush (them again) came off just 48 balls. This moves him to the top of the run scoring charts. Boost’s Zia-ur-Rehman still has the best figures for a bowler with 12 @ 10.5.