Chamari Atapattu made her fifth ODI hundred but it wasn’t enough to challenge Australia

The Report by Andrew McGlashan09-Oct-2019Alyssa Healy continued her prolific run-scoring form by plundering a 71-ball hundred on her way to an unbeaten 76-ball 112 as Australia surged to a record-breaking 18th ODI victory in a row with a nine-wicket hammering of Sri Lanka.Chamari Atapattu’s 103, her fifth ODI hundred and her second century of the tour following her T20I ton in Sydney, anchored Sri Lanka’s effort but the next-best score was 24 and they could still only post 8 for 195, which proved way short of giving Australia a challenge. A 3-0 series result was nothing less than expected, but Australia’s ruthlessness was impressive.Healy and Rachael Haynes, who backed up her maiden ODI century with 63 to take her tally to 237 runs in the series, cruised towards the target – although both were dropped in the same over off Achini Kulasuriya – before Haynes was out sweeping with 37 runs needed.Healy raced off the blocks in the chase and Australia’s fifty came up in the sixth over. She should have been dismissed on 68 but the chance was spilled at deep midwicket and Haynes was then given a life on 39, but even if held it’s unlikely the result would have differed.Healy’s third ODI hundred, which have all come in the last two years during which time she has averaged 57.15, came with captain Meg Lanning alongside her and a match-winning six was a fitting way for Australia to set their new record, surpassing the 17 wins in a row they managed between 1997 and 1999 under the captaincy of Belinda Clark.For the first time in the series, Sri Lanka were able to set a target and there was a promising foundation at 1 for 68 before Harshitha Madavi was smartly run out by Healy’s direct hit as she ran around from behind the stumps after a badly misjudged single. They slumped to 5 for 87 as Georgia Wareham struck twice, but Atapattu held firm.She added 49 with Ama Kanchana and 47 with Oshadi Ranasinghe, bringing up an impressive hundred off 120 deliveries, to put a seal on a tour where she has been head and shoulders above the rest of Sri Lanka’s batting.

Despite Head’s century New South Wales ended the second day on top at Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2019South Australia 7 for 222 (Head 109) trail New South Wales 289 (Solway 133*, Nevill 53, Sayers 8-64)With the decision looming on Australia’s Test batting line-up, Travis Head made a timely century against a strong New South Wales attack to shore up South Australia’s first innings at Adelaide Oval although the visitors ended the second day with the advantage.Head, who was left out of the final Ashes Test when Australia rebalanced their side with Mitchell Marsh, had made an unconvincing start to the first-class season with a scratchy half-century on a flat pitch at Junction Oval before scores of 0 and 12 against Queensland.However, he was named in the Australia A side to face Pakistan in Perth later this month in what is billed as a showdown for probably two batting spots with Head vying for a middle-order role. He will now enter that game with confidence having brought up his 11th first-class hundred from 200 deliveries with a boundary off Australia team-mate Josh Hazlewood, but he could not reach the close as Hazlewood hit back during an impressive spell with the second new ball.There was less from the rest of the batting order than he would have liked. Trent Copeland struck early to trap Jake Weatherald lbw although the batsman indicated he got an inside edge and Callum Ferguson edged to gully. Copeland struck again when a Henry Hunt got into a tangle against a short ball to leave South Australia 3 for 68.Tom Cooper helped Head added 73 for the fourth wicket only to send a top edge to fine leg where Hazlewood took a well-judged catch. Another 50-run partnership followed before Nathan Lyon earned reward for a probing spell by having Harry Nielsen caught at slip, the batsman happy to take the word of Copeland that the ball had carried.When Tom Andrews was caught behind off Moises Henriques shortly before the second new ball New South Wales were firmly on top and the removal of Head left them sensing a handy lead.The day had started with New South Wales seven down in their first innings and Chadd Sayers claimed two of the remaining wickets to finish with a career-best 8 for 64. Debutant Daniel Solway, who marked the opening day with a century, finished unbeaten on 133.

Heino Kuhn’s 58 in vain as Rocks overtake Giants to confirm top spot

The Report by Firdose Moonda08-Dec-2019The Paarl Rocks secured a home final in this year’s edition of the Mzansi Super League by defending 168 against the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants at Boland Park. The win puts the Rocks on 27 points, the same number as the Giants, but they qualify automatically for the final by virtue of their head-to-head record against the Giants. The Rocks beat the Giants in both pool matches defending similar totals.The Rocks scored 166 for 7 and beat the Giants by 31 runs in Port Elizabeth 10 days ago. It was tighter today, as the Rocks scored 168 for 5 and won by 12 runs today.Team news and a good change Ferisco Adams was brought into the Rocks XI because Hardus Viljoen was unavailable for this match and had early success when he bowled Matthew Breetzke with his first ball. But Adams’ immediate impact paled in comparison to Viljoen’s reason for not playing which his captain Faf du Plessis revealed a little too much about.Adams also defended 23 runs off the final over, after his first three balls went for nine runs including a massive six from Marco Marais. The Giants’ middle-order man has impressed with his death hitting in this competition and almost took the game away from the Rocks despite being struck on the arm twice by his batting partner Heino Kuhn, who was trying to get the ball past the non-striker in a bid to push for victory. Adams had a memorable finish to the game, taking two wickets in two balls to dismiss Marais and Kuhn in successive balls and seal the Rocks’ spot in the final.Bjorn’s Fortune Bjorn Fortuin lived up to his last name with a run-out that may be called fortunate to dismiss Giants’ captain Jon-Jon Smuts, who is also their second-highest run-scorer in the tournament. Smuts was at the non-strikers’ end when Kuhn his the ball back to Fortuin. Smuts had ventured a few feet out of his crease, anticipating a run, but Fortuin reacted quickly to get down, and deflect the ball onto the stumps. Smuts saw him and tried to get back but Fortuin was a fraction quicker and Smuts was short of his ground. The Giants were 62 for 3 at that stage and needed to score at 9.6 runs an over to win, something Fortuin played his part in preventing. He finished with 0 for 19 in his four overs, and conceded no boundaries in a stellar effort to strangle the Giants.Shamsi’s stoke of luck Fortuin’s built pressure and Tabraiz Shamsi cashed in with a crucial, and lucky breakthrough, the over after Fortuin’s spell ended. Ryan ten Doeschate played across the line to a Shamsi delivery that struck him on the back pad and was given out. Shamsi took off in celebration sans any shoe-phone or magic tricks while ten Doeschate looked on in disbelief. Replays showed the ball was missing leg stump by some distance but with no DRS in operation, ten Doeschate had no recourse and the Rocks had a key wicket.Delport digs in With a home final on the cards, Cameron Delport and Henry Davids got their team off to a strong start with 51 runs in the first five overs. Delport led the charge scoring 35 runs off the 20 balls he faced, including eight fours. Three of them came in successive balls off Chris Morris, all in the ‘V’ down the ground. Delport hit one more boundary before he was caught off a top edge but his innings put him into the top five run-scorers in the competition. He has 246 runs at 27.33 so far, behind AB de Villiers, Reeza Hendricks, Ben Dunk and Janneman Malan.Better than SteynAfter a match-winning 2 for 22 against the Cape Town Blitz on Friday night, Imran Tahir put on another authoritative performance which took to the top of the wicket-charts for the tournament. His two wickets came in two balls. First, he uprooted James Vince’s off stump and then deceived Sibonelo Makhanya with a googly that Makhanya chipped straight back to a short mid-on, put in place specifically for that dismissal. Tahir now has 16 wickets, one more than Dale Steyn, and also the best economy rate of any bowler who has bowled more than six overs at this competition. Tahir has conceded at less than six runs an over – 5.68 – in the 38 overs he has bowled in his 10 group games.

England seal series in Kuala Lumpur with big win powered by strong batting

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2019England 327 for 4 (Sciver 100*, Knight 86, Wilson 85*) beat Pakistan 200 (Maharoof 64) by 127 runsNat Sciver cracked an 85-ball century, and Fran Wilson added a quickfire 85 not out from 49 balls, as England eased to a series-sealing 127-run victory over Pakistan in the second women’s ODI in Kuala Lumpur.After winning the toss and batting first on a sweltering day, England suffered an early setback when Danni Wyatt fell to Nida Dar for 6 in the second over of the match.Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont regrouped with a 61-run stand for the second wicket, before Beaumont was the second to go, caught by Diana Baig off Nashra Sandhu for 21.But thereafter, England took total control of the contest, as Sciver joined Knight in an 84-run stand for the third wicket, bringing up the 150 in the 29h over before Knight was run out for 86 from 100 balls.Amy Jones chipped in with 17 from 22 balls, but it was the arrival of Wilson that kicked the innings into another gear, as she and Sciver climbed into the final 14.1 overs of the innings with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 146.Wilson struck eight fours and three sixes in a career-best innings, while Sciver reached her third ODI hundred from the penultimate ball of the innings, as England closed on 327 for 4.Chasing that total was never going to be a realistic prospect for Pakistan, who lost wickets at regular intervals before being bowled out for 200 in the 45th over.The captain Bismah Maroof made a brisk 64 from 65 balls, and Nahida Khan made 40 from 43. But England’s wickets were shared around, with Anya Shrubsole, Sarah Glenn, Sophie Ecclestone and Knight all claiming two apiece.”I was really happy to reach three figures, from a selfish point of view, but it was just nice to take the team to a big total,” said Sciver.”Fran batted so well when she came in and she really helped us accelerate towards 300 and beyond – it was a lot of fun batting with her and she played excellently.”It was a shame Heather didn’t get to her landmark because she batted so well and it would have been a lovely way for her to celebrate getting to 100 caps.”Pakistan have been quite testing, they were hard to get away at points today and they were solid with the bat so we’re happy to have gone 2-0 up and won the series.”

The Adelaide Strikers raced to their target of 101 with 55 deliveries to spare to avenge their defeat at the Gabba

Andrew McGlashan17-Jan-2020If you thought the Brisbane Heat’s victory over the Adelaide Strikers at the Gabba was a thrashing, think again. The roles were more than reversed at the Adelaide Oval as the home side romped to a 10-wicket win with a massive 55 deliveries remaining – the third most in BBL history – after dismantling an awful Heat for just 100.AB de Villiers fell in the fourth over but Heat had reached 2 for 53 in the eighth when it all started to go badly wrong. Liam O’Connor removed Chris Lynn to spark a collapse of 8 for 47 as he claimed a career-best 3 for 30. Only Matt Renshaw showed much composure with 43 and the Heat were bowled out with three overs unused. Michael Neser had a big impact, removing de Villiers and Renshaw in his 2 for 14.Liam O’Connor is pumped up after striking•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

If it’s possible, the chase was even more one-sided as Phil Salt, who has had a tricky tournament, carted the bowling to all parts as he and Jake Weatherald got the job done in under 11 overs. It handed the Strikers a handy net run-rate boost and did the opposite to the Heat. There might be another Darren Lehmann spray coming.De Villiers in – and out – earlyThere was much excitement, even from some the Strikers players as shown by Weatherald who was on the TV mic, when de Villiers walked in during the third over following another poor shot from Max Bryant who clubbed to mid-off. A chance for him to bat nearly 18 overs…oh, the possibilities. It was all over after three balls when he pulled Michael Neser to deep square leg where Weatherald took a well-judged catch above his head. Speaking on the coverage later, de Villiers said he had perhaps been over-eager on a surface that looked full of runs. Two early wickets meant Lynn had to play it a little safe, but just when he had got himself set the wheels fell off.Falling in a heapLynn tried to clear the off side against O’Connor’s second delivery but could only skew the ball over cover where Rashid Khan turned, ran back and took a superb catch over his shoulder. In the next over Travis Head brought himself on and it worked a treat second ball when Joe Burns swung straight down deep midwicket, a poor piece of judgement for an experienced player with a key batsman having fallen the over before. O’Connor, who had never previously taken more than two wickets in a BBL innings and has largely been Khan’s understudy, twice found the top edge as Ben Cutting and Jimmy Peirson played cut shots, with Harry Nielsen claiming two excellent catches. The Heat’s only hope of even a half-decent total lay with Renshaw who had again played very well, but amid the clatter of wickets he top-edged a pull off Neser. In the end they barely got into three figures as Wes Agar closed things out with a brace of excellent yorkers.Rubbing Salt into the woundThere are generally two ways to knock off a small total – steady, or brutally quick. The Strikers took the latter route with 13 coming from the second over from Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Salt played out a maiden from Josh Lalor, but it was a momentary pause as the Strikers finished the Powerplay on 0 for 45. At that stage Weatherald was 26 and Salt 15; things soon changed. In a fierce display of striking Salt went from 18 off 23 balls to 67 off 38 hitting eight of his next 15 deliveries for either four or six, finishing the (non) contest with consecutive sixes off Mujeeb.

The former South Africa captain will join Darren Sammy in a mentoring capacity for the upcoming season of the PSL

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2020Peshawar Zalmi have roped in Hashim Amla as a batting mentor for the upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The acquisition was announced on Twitter by the owner of the franchise, Javed Afridi. “His gracious presence in the PSL 5 festivity will not only adorn the Zalmi dugout but also inspire and craft the cricket skills of the emerging players in the squad,” Afridi said. Amla never played in the PSL, but brings vast T20 experience to the Zalmi side. The South African played 44 T20Is for his country, including three T20 World Cups. He has played in several T20 leagues around the world, most notably for the Kings XI Punjab, with whom he enjoyed a particularly prolific season in 2017, smashing two hundreds and finishing as the franchise’s top scorer for the season.Amla joins former West Indies international Darren Sammy in a mentoring capacity, with the former Zalmi captain moving into a mentoring role, starting this season. Head coach Mohammad Akram, manager Arshad Khan and spin-bowling coach Saqlain Mushtaq are also part of the backroom staff for the side. Zalmi, who reached the last three PSL finals, will look to go one better on the runners-up result they managed last season, ultimately falling short to Sarfaraz Ahmed’s Quetta Gladiators.

Batsman available for both white-ball competitions and first three Championship games

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2020Leicestershire have announced the signing of Janneman Malan as their main overseas player for the 2020 season.Malan, who was the leading domestic run-scorer in this season’s Mzansi Super League, became the first player to score a duck on ODI debut and follow it up with a century in his second match this week, leading South Africa to a series win over Australia.He is available for the duration of the white-ball competitions as well as the club’s first three County Championship games, subject to international commitments.ALSO READ: County ins and outs 2019-20Leicestershire’s financial position rendered them unable to sign an overseas player for their T20 campaign last season, while most other counties fielded two, and their Championship overseas player Mohammad Abbas has been snapped up by Nottinghamshire.But after securing a £1.75m loan from Leicester City Council in December, the club found themselves in a position to recruit, and have secured the signing of Malan with time to spare before the start of the season.Paul Nixon, the club’s head coach, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have Janneman on board with us, primarily for white-ball cricket but also with the opportunity to slot into our red ball side too.”Securing a high-class opening batsman in T20 and the Royal London Cup has been a major priority and Janneman fits the bill for us. His record across all formats his outstanding and we have watched his progress and development with interest.”Janneman strikes the ball very cleanly and will be an asset to us. He fits the profile of our squad; young, hungry and adaptable, and we know he is highly thought of in South Africa with his recent international call-ups.”Malan said: “I am looking forward to working with Paul Nixon who is busy getting the boys prepared for pre-season and I will be following their progress closely from afar.”

Five years after making his first-class debut at 27, Richard Gleeson is closing in on an England cap

Matt Roller04-Jun-2020At the age of 27, Richard Gleeson had all but given up on his dream of playing cricket for a living.After a series of odd jobs for a boiler firm, at a fishing tackle shop and as a landscape gardener, he landed a coaching job at the Lancashire Cricket Board, which he combined with his minor counties career for Cumberland. He was at peace with the fact a professional career had passed him by.Five years on, he is back in training at Emirates Old Trafford, after being named in England’s 55-man training group for this summer’s internationals, with the possibility of a full debut in sight.”To go from a club cricketer at 26 to an England international at 32, it would be amazing,” he says on a Zoom call. “I probably had thought ‘I’m not going to get any opportunities, so I’ll enjoy what I’m doing’.”I had my career path with the coaching… that’s the direction that I was going down. Like any club cricketer, I was enjoying it – I’d always try to play to the top standard I could in minor counties. And then James Middlebrook came to me and said there was an opportunity to maybe play some cricket at Northants. I said: ‘I’ll take it’.”That led to a first-class debut against the touring Australians in 2015, and the wickets of the Marsh brothers on debut. He impressed head coach David Ripley enough to win a pay-as-you-play deal for the following year, and a starring role in Northants’ title-winning T20 Blast season earned him a gig in the Bangladesh Premier League.ALSO READ: Northants unknown is fit for England, says Ripley (2017)He was soon wearing an England shirt, representing the Lions in early 2018 after his ability to hit speeds of 90mph/145kph caught the eye, and signed with Lancashire later that year to be closer to his girlfriend (now fiancée) Laura and their new-born baby. Last season saw him take 56 wickets despite injury setbacks, and earn contracts in the Hundred, Big Bash and Abu Dhabi T10. After touring Australia with the Lions over the winter he now finds himself in contention for a full debut later this summer.”It’s just a great story to never give up, keep following your dream and keep pursuing things, because you never know what could happen and when. It’s a great advert for minor counties cricket as well. I think they’ll enjoy the story – if it [a debut] happens, and hopefully it does, it will make a nice read.”Gleeson has been bowling with both red and white balls since returning to training, but is more likely to be in contention for an ODI cap than a Test one. He had a chastening time in Melbourne Renegades colours over the winter, leaking more than 10 runs per over, but feels better equipped to reach his top speeds and use ground dimensions to his advantage after working closely with the team’s bowling coach Shaun Tait.The combination of a packed schedule and the prospect of running two squads in parallel this summer means that rotation among fast bowlers is highly likely, and Gleeson can reasonably hope that a chance to impress the selectors might be forthcoming.While his inclusion at the age of 32 might come as a surprise – not least with 35-year-old Liam Plunkett’s age the main factor in his omission – Gleeson thinks that his relative inexperience and physical fitness means his body is that of a man several years younger.