ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 Update

 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, this old show rolls back in town…and this time the town is Glasgow. Scotland, who had a great spell in the least leg, are in second place where the visitors, Namibia and Nepal, are 5^th and 6^th respectively. They will be hoping to make some headway on the United States who occupy the last qualification place.

The opening game between Scotland and Namibia went to form with Scotland running out convincing winners – however it was today’s game that looked a little more edgy. Namibia won the toss and elected to bat. They put on 220 despite the ever-impressive Sandeep Lamichhane’s 4-54. Unfortunately the Nepalese bowlers couldn’t follow through – a trend that has continued throughout the tournament. There are 2 Nepalese bowlers in the top 10 highest wicket takers but they have no batters in the Top 25 highest run scorers. They were all out for 180.

 

Matches continue through until Sunday when Nepal and Namibi leave to be replaced by the United States and the UAE – two top 4 teams. That could be a real test of Scotland’s metal.

 

Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Overs Tournament Update

 

Another full round of Sri Lankan domestic cricket was played out today with a number of eye-catching results.

The most eye-catching game took place at Moratuwa where 6^th placed Ragama absolutely destroyed second to bottom placed Nugegoda – largely thanks to the tournament’s largest individual total scored by Nishan Madushka. The ex-Sri Lanka Under 19 player scored 165 of Ragama’s 339-6 before the bowlers got to work and first strangled Nugegoda before knocking them all out with 8 overs left and a deficit of 156 runs. Madushka’s innings broke the Kasun Vidura stranglehold at the top of the highest totals; however, he still thunders on in terms of total runs scored thanks to another half-century today against Panadura. He now has 446 runs @ 89.20 – 120 more than anyone else.

12 miles up the coast, Sinhalese won a narrow one against Moors despite having only scored 120 in the first knock. Sinhalese have a lot to thank Sasika Dilshan for as his figures of 7-2-28-2 were influential in getting Moors out for just over a hundred runs. It is the tournament’s second 7-fer – and both have been by Sinhalese bowlers.

The tournament’s highest wicket-taker Duvindu Tillakaratne continued to impress as he got 3-42 in Burgher's victory over Colombo. On only 2 occasions has he failed to get fewer than three wickets in this competition so far.

 

There is an anomalous single game tomorrow with the next large round of fixtures on Sunday

 

Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament Update

 There were two games in this tournament today that both provided up some interesting performances.

Table-topping Moors won yet another game against Colts. The margin of victory was rather emphatic as they ran out 123 run victors – the 6^th highest margin of victory. It was largely down to a 96 run haul from Pasindu Sooriyabandara who scored the 12^th highest score of the tournament and shot up the run scoring table to 4^th overall. After putting on 293 in their 50, Moors then went too slow and then too riskily to end up without any further batters in the hutch with 50 overs left to go.

In the other game, Kandy beat resident whipping boys the Sri Lankan Navy. When Kandy were all out for 117, the Navy would have thought they were going to be able to hoist their flag to mark their first win – however they melted away to a 14 run loss. Ayesh Harshana hit them the hardest with figures of 4-21.

Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament Update

 

The most eye-catching fixture in this round of fixtures came as Sinhalese embarrassed Kalutara. Electing to bat first, Sinhalese put on the highest team total of the tournament so far with 331 runs scored for the loss of just 4 batters. Even though the batters clearly excelled, it was a bowler who produced the most electric performance. Prabath Jayasuriya has had a below par tournament so far but came out the blocks and got the highest match figures thus far – 7-17. His prolific wicket taking saw Kalutara all out for 102, handing Sinhalese a 229 run victory – the largest of the tournament so far.

 

Elsewhere, Tillakaratne Sampath scored the tournaments’ third highest total as Burgher beat Chilaw with 8 overs training. A late innings slump could not derail Burgher as the captain’s 106 run 120 meant they were well on their way by the time he lost his wicket with 182 on the board. There has been no change in terms of highest run scorers and highest wicket takers – however both men didn’t have their greatest matches in the game. Kasun Vidura added just 17 runs to his total in the Burrgher v Chilaw game whilst Duvindu Tillakaratne got a solitary wicket.  

 

Games are now drip-fed throughout the next few days, rather than in these big blocks.

Papua New Guinea Tour of Singapore

 

Papua New Guinea’s tour of Singapore was always going to be a tightly contested affair. There are just 2 Ratings Points (yeah, I don’t know either) between the two teams who are 20^th and 19^th respectively in the T20I rankings. This has been reflected in the results of the two matches carried out thus far with the series resting at one a piece – despite the relative dominance of the Singaporean players.

 

Singapore took the opening game yesterday thanks to Akshay Puri helping limit PNG to just 150 – 18 runs short of the target. Puri got the best figures of 3-26 but was ably supported by Vinoth Baskaran who has got a brace in both games to lead the way in terms of wickets taken.

 

Today’s game was more of a batter friendly occasion – evident in the fact that 409 runs were shared between the two sides. Even though Surendran Chandramohan scored his maiden international century and Singapore reached their second highest ever T20 score, Papua New Guinea still managed to chase it down with 2 balls remaining. Oddly enough, the successful chase also marked Papua New Guinea’s second highest ever T20I score – but was their highest in a chase. Due to the fact that Chandramohan made a paltry 2 runs in the first match, it is his teammate Arjun Mutreja who leads out the run scorers courtesy of 77 yesterday and 36 today.

 

The series continues on Tuesday, concluding on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament Update

 

The last week has seen all teams play out a further three games to take their total to 4 over the course of the tournament and yet again it is the Sri Lankan Army who continue to impress. They are, yet again, unbeaten thus far in the group stage and have the two largest margins of victory – they opened the tournament with a 129 run win against Kurunegala and followed that up with a 176 run win against Nugegoda today.

 

Equally as dominant on an individual level is Chilaw’s Kasun Vidura who scored his second century of the tournament on Friday, following up on his 129 from the opening day. This takes his total up to 356 for the tournament, 129 more than anyone else.

 

In terms of bowling success, Ashan Priyanjan got the best bowling figures of the tournament as he registered 6-30 in Colts’ victory against the Sri Lankan Navy today. This sees him catapulted to 8^th place on the overall wicket keepers list that is topped by Burgher’s Duvindu Tillakaratne.

 

Games continue on Tuesday.

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy Round Up

 

Grace Scrivens was the star of the opening day of the 2022 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, despite the fact that her Sunrisers team lost their opening fixture to the South East Stars.

Scrivens started off her day with figures of 10-1-42-4 but was let down by 3 other bowlers whose figures were rather less flattering. This bowling profligacy saw the South East get to 281-8; the 12^th highest score in the competition’s history. Scrivens took the bull by the horns and tried to win the game singlehandedly and blasted a run a ball 74, however was again let down by her compatriots. There can’t be many times that the same player has the lowest economy with the ball and the highest strike rate with the bat. She ends the first round of fixtures as the highest wicket taker and the highest run scorer.

The South East’s game was the only one that was not effected by weather as the Western Storm beat Loughborough and the Southern Vipers beat Central Sparks on DLS.