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He is likely to remain at home to tend to his wife’s illness, which means Shakib Al Hasan will take over captaincy duties

Mohammad Isam11-Jul-2018Mashrafe Mortaza is unlikely to travel to the West Indies for the ODI series that begins on July 22, since his wife is ill. Bangladesh’s selectors, however, will wait until Friday, the day before the ODI specialists’ departure from Dhaka, to name his replacement.”Mashrafe’s involvement in the ODI series is in doubt,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin told ESPNcricinfo. “I spoke to him last night. His wife is really sick. I don’t think he will be able to go to the West Indies.”If her condition improves, however, Mashrafe could fly out, especially given the length of time remaining before the series-opener. If he stays at home, Shakib Al Hasan will take over the ODI captaincy.Shafiul Islam, meanwhile, suffered an ankle injury during Tuesday’s training session. The injury is likely to rule him out of the second Test, which begins on Thursday in Jamaica. Bangladesh’s squad only contains four fast bowlers in all, which means they will be unable to make any changes to the pace attack that featured in the innings defeat in Antigua, should they stick with three quicks.

The 36-year old former South Africa opener has relinquished captaincy of Glamorgan in four-day cricket, but will continue to lead them in T20s until his retirement

Firdose Moonda24-May-2017Former South African Test opener Jacques Rudolph will retire from all forms of cricket at the end of the 2017 English season. The 36-year old has stepped down as four-day captain for Glamorgan with immediate effect, but will continue leading the T20 side until his retirement.”The time feels right to call an end to my playing career,” Rudolph said. “I have been incredibly fortunate to have enjoyed playing the game I love for the last 20 years. But at the end of this summer it will be time to focus on a new venture away from cricket and spend more time with my young family.”Rudolph, a product of the famed Afrikaans Hoer Seunskool, made his first-class debut twenty seasons ago in the 1997-98 summer. He played 48 Tests in two stints – the first 35 came between 2003 and 2006 and the remaining 13 between 2011 and 2012 – because he had signed a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire in 2007.By scoring 1000 runs or more in his first four seasons with the county, Rudolph found his way back into the South African team. But his second coming yielded only one Test century and he was dropped in November 2012. Rudolph then turned his attention to playing franchise cricket for the Titans and eventually called time on his South Africa career after the 2015-16 season.Rudolph has been with Glamorgan since 2014 and has captained them for the last two seasons. In 2017, he scored 319 runs in five first-class matches at 35.44 and 305 runs in eight one-day matches at 38.12. The T20 competition he will lead Glamorgan in begins on July 7. While Rudolph has not detailed what life after cricket holds, he has interest in a game farm with fellow South African batsman Boeta Dippenaar.With Rudolph standing down, Glamorgan have given the Championship captaincy to their 35-year-old Australian seamer Michael Hogan until the end of the season.

Ben Stokes has spoken about the “complete devastation” he felt after the last over of the World T20 final

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-2016Allrounder Ben Stokes has spoken about the “complete devastation” he felt after the last over of the World T20 final when Carlos Brathwaite had taken him for four consecutive sixes to snatch the title away from England.In the immediate aftermath of the conclusion to the final, Stokes admitted trying to block out the emotions and he said it is only since returning home that he has really reflected on what took place.The final over began with West Indies needing 19 to win and England favourites despite having struggled to 155 for 9 with the bat. But then Brathwaite swung Stokes’ first delivery over deep square leg, then connected sweetly against two full deliveries to suddenly level the scores and leave a distraught Stokes with his head in his hands.”I thought, ‘I’ve just lost the World Cup’. I couldn’t believe it,” he told the . “I didn’t know what to do. It took me so long to get back on my feet. I didn’t want to get back up. It was like the whole world had come down on me. There weren’t any good things going through my mind. It was just complete devastation.””It is probably only now really that all the emotions have started to come out about it. I couldn’t reflect on it at the time. There was just shock.”Stokes had developed his reputation as a death bowler during the tournament with important spells against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. He said he did not panic after the first ball of the last over had cleared the boundary and was still backing himself to defend 7 off 4 before being crushed by the third six.”It was not until they needed one off three that I knew the game was gone. When they needed seven I was still backing myself to get us over the line but I just couldn’t. It was amazing hitting. I just did not execute what I wanted to do.”A host of current and former players – not just from England – have come out in support of Stokes, praising his desire to be the man under pressure at the end, and he said he would not have a second thought about putting himself back in that position.”A hundred per cent. Definitely. It is something I work at a lot. Some days they go well. Some days they don’t. That was a bad day but I won’t be shying away from it. You almost want it to happen because if you nail it everyone forgets.”Stokes was at the centre of another spat with Marlon Samuels during the final – Samuels was fined 30% of his match fee for foul language – and Samuels was far from glowing about Stokes during his post-match press conference. Stokes has no issue with how events transpired and acknowledged Samuels played “a brilliant” innings.He also revealed that Brathwaite, who was fulsome in his praise of Stokes, had asked for a signed shirt.”We did not have a beer with them afterwards but Brathwaite came up to me and asked for a shirt. He is a brilliant lad. I wanted to make sure I spoke to them and say well done because I did not want people to think I was bitter. I wished them all the best. It is about respect to the opposition.”Stokes will return to action for Durham on April 24 in their County Championship match against Middlesex.

A strong batting display from Ireland, followed by an incisive spell of 4 for 32 from Max Sorensen left the hosts on the cusp of victory against Scotland in their Intercontinental Cup match in Dublin

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2013

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMax Sorensen bowled a 10-over first spell that yielded four wickets•ICC/John Boomer

A strong batting display from Ireland, followed by an incisive spell of 4 for 32 from right-arm seamer Max Sorensen left the hosts on the cusp of a comprehensive victory against Scotland in their Intercontinental Cup match in Dublin.Sorensen, who picked up three wickets against Scotland in a World Cricket League Championship game last Sunday, dismissed Hamish Gardiner and Freddie Coleman in the third over. Preston Mommsen and Calum MacLeod also fell victim to Sorensen’s first spell as Scotland slumped to 27 for 4 in the 11th over.It became 64 for 7 before No. 9 Safyaan Sharif manned a rearguard action for the second time in the match. He added 79 runs with Majid Haq during an eighth-wicket stand that lasted 26 overs. Sharif recorded his maiden first-class half-century but lost his wicket off what became the last ball of the day, leaving Scotland at 143 for 8, and needing another 69 runs to avoid an innings defeat.Despite rain wiping out most of day two, Ireland’s batsmen put up a solid performance as Paul Stirling composed a 101-ball 65 that included 11 fours, and together with John Anderson, added 92 for the second wicket to take Ireland beyond Scotland’s first-innings score of 139. Anderson played the ideal foil for Stirling, picking up a fifty himself, which included five fours.But Stirling threw his wicket away, pulling straight to deep mid wicket off seamer Alasdair Evans and Legspinner Moneeb Iqbal dismissed Anderson for 56 off just his second delivery.With two new batsmen at the crease, Scotland might have sensed the tide changing, but Andrew White and Kevin O’Brien put up a 52-run stand for the fourth wicket and then, when Iqbal and Haq removed the pair in quick succession, Andrew Balbirnie and Stuart Poynter contributed 62 runs for the sixth wicket to increase Ireland’s lead.Iqbal and Haq took four wickets each, but were unable to curtail the flow of runs from the Ireland batsmen, who together struck a total of 43 fours and four sixes in the innings to build a lead of 212.

Abdur Rehman finished with match figures of 14 for 101 as Somerset clinched runners-up spot in Division One

13-Sep-2012
ScorecardAbdur Rehman finished with match figures of 14 for 101 as Somerset clinched runners-up spot in Division One with victory over relegated Worcestershire by an innings and 148 runs at Taunton.Rehman took 5 for 36 as the visitors stumbled to 152 all out in their second innings, Alexei Kervezee top-scoring with 76 and Peter Trego claiming his 50th first-class wicket of the season.The hosts took 23 points to Worcestershire’s two as their players guaranteed themselves a share in a £162,000 cheque for finishing second behind champions Warwickshire.Somerset had batted on at the start of the day before declaring their first innings on 512 for 9, with a lead of 300. Nick Compton finished unbeaten on 155, just six short of 1,500 first-class runs. Compton, who faced 322 balls and hit 15 fours and a six, was left with a first-class average of 99.60 when the declaration came. Six more runs would have left him averaging 100.Moeen Ali returned figures of 4 for 143, but by far the best Worcestershire bowler was Alan Richardson, who claimed his 500th first-class victim when pinning Alfonso Thomas lbw for 17, and finished with 4 for 100 from 41 overs.A three-day finish always looked likely and Worcestershire lost two wickets in scoring 39 before lunch. Phil Hughes edged Trego to wicketkeeper Steve Snell and Daryl Mitchell was caught at slip off Rehman.The Hughes wicket sparked wild celebrations among the fielders as they all mobbed Trego for whom it was a notable milestone in his career. The 31-year-old all-rounder had never threatened to take 50 wickets before, but has bowled more overs than ever for Somerset because of injuries this season.After lunch there was a predictable procession of batsmen. Thomas trapped Neil Pinner leg before for 14 and Craig Overton struck in his first over as Marcus Trescothick took a sharp catch at second slip to send back Moeen for 24.Rehman then produced perfectly pitched turning deliveries to bowl Aneesh Kapil and Brett D’Olivera, both pushing forward defensively, before Ben Cox fell to a brilliant catch at mid-wicket by Arul Suppiah as he pulled a short ball from Steve Kirby.It was 129 for 8 when Chris Russell was snapped up at leg-slip by Trego off a Rehman arm-ball, having made only a single. Kervezee stood defiant, reaching his half-century off 64 balls with six fours, although he was steadily running out of partners as Nick Harrison played on to Thomas and departed for a duck.Kervezee was the last wicket to fall, pouched at slip by Trescothick off Man-of-the-Match Rehman.

Australian cricket’s reckoning for a disastrous Ashes series, and the decline from greatness to mediocrity that preceded it, is belatedly at hand

Daniel Brettig17-Aug-2011Australian cricket’s reckoning for a disastrous Ashes series, and the decline from greatness to mediocrity that preceded it, is belatedly at hand. The findings of the Australian team performance review will, as ESPNcricinfo reported in July, be tabled and discussed by the directors at the Cricket Australia board meeting to take place in Melbourne on Thursday and Friday, nearly eight months after the Ashes were lost in an innings defeat at the MCG.Upon the conclusion of the meeting CA’s chairman Jack Clarke will face the cameras and microphones to run over whatever findings the board chooses to make public. Based on the submissions of a litany of players, coaches, administrators and other well-placed observers, they are expected to be blunt and wide-ranging.The review panel, chaired by Don Argus and including the former captains Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh plus the former CA chief executive Malcolm Speed, is likely to direct its harshest critiques towards the selection policies of the out of contract chairman, Andrew Hilditch, whose term lapsed at the end of the World Cup.Hilditch’s tenure began in 2006, and after enjoying a 5-0 Ashes sweep on England in the following summer he was fated to negotiate the retirements of a succession of great players, including Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn.He and his panel have been heavily criticised for numerous decisions across that time, most pointedly the revolving door for spin bowlers since the selectors’ planning was thrown out of balance by the sudden retirement of Stuart MacGill in 2008.More recently the removal of Simon Katich from the list of CA contracted players provided a window into the players’ discontent about the ways of the panel, something also highlighted by a formal submission to the review regarding selection by the Australian Cricketers Association.Rod Marsh, the former Australian wicketkeeper and highly-respected academy coach, has expressed his interest in becoming chairman of selectors, discussing the possibility with CA’s head of cricket operations, Michael Brown.Other matters at issue for the review panel include the shape of the Australian team’s support staff, with the place of the head coach Tim Nielsen in some question. Since the World Cup Nielsen’s support staff has been bolstered by the additions of Craig McDermott (bowling coach) and Steve Rixon (fielding coach), as the players desired greater guidance from mentors with international experience.Rixon’s arrival in particular has been met with great enthusiasm, and as the former coach of New Zealand and NSW his credentials far outweigh those of Nielsen, who was a distinguished assistant for South Australia and Australia but had never been a head coach until he replaced John Buchanan in 2007, like Hilditch at the outset of a difficult period of transition.Australia’s players and support staff currently on tour in Sri Lanka are expected to be briefed about the review findings on Friday morning in Colombo, before Clarke presents a summary of the findings to the public.The Australian team’s contract system, scheduling and preparation have also been matters for discussion, with the former chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns noting that a sleeker and more flexible contract system should be devised.It has also been pointed out that Test cricket in Australia would benefit from being the clear financial pinnacle of the game, with sufficient incentives for young players to devote themselves to its pursuit.The evolving role of the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane is considered a sore point in the development of players, as CA has sought to make it more of a finishing school for internationals rather than a bridge between junior cricket and the first-class arena.Further down the pathway, the standard of domestic cricket has been openly questioned by the likes of Ricky Ponting, who fervently believes that young cricketers need to be held to the same rigorous standards he had to reach before he was selected to play for Australia.Twenty20’s onset, and its attendant impact on the techniques and priorities of domestic players, is another factor, but CA are torn on this matter by competing desires to have the Test team successful while also growing the game’s revenue.There is little the review panel can do about the onset of the T20 Big Bash League and its heavy impact on the domestic schedule, meaning there will be plenty of hurdles ahead for the Australian team, whatever Argus and company recommend at the board meeting.

Nathan Hauritz and India go back a long way. It was here almost six years ago that his Test career started … and nearly ended

Sidharth Monga28-Sep-2010Nathan Hauritz and India go back a long way. It was here almost six years ago that his Test career started … and nearly ended. It was the Mumbai Test played on the raging turner where he took the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, but in his own words, “after they had taken me down pretty easily”. Those runs helped India erase the deficit and win the incredible Test. Hauritz was sent back to first-class cricket where he spent the next four years. He never really thought he would be Australia’s lead spinner again, leave alone coming back as one to the land where it all began.Hauritz remembers the debut and the circumstances around it well. “Warney got hit on the thumb in the training on the day before,” he says. “It looked innocuous, not too bad. I didn’t find out until the morning that his thumb was actually cracked and broken. The first day was washed out. I didn’t bowl until late in the next day. And the match was over very quick.”Hauritz remembers not being mentally ready. The instant memory of that match, in fact, is Michael Clarke’s 6 for 9 on a pitch that should have suited Hauritz immensely. “Training-wise I was ready,” he says. “Mentally I was still developing. I was only 23 years old. I was put into that tour because there weren’t too many offspinners around. I had been bowling well in one-day cricket too.”The wickets of Tendulkar and Laxman came at a price. “Sachin hit me for the biggest six of my life,” Hauritz says. “Pup remembers he hit me into the sightscreen, and the dirt in the sightscreen looked like an ant – it was that far away.”Look it was a great thrill to get those guys in my first Test. It was a long time ago, but those memories will stay with me. I still can’t forget the feeling of being in the huddle after getting Sachin out.”The next four years were spent outside the team. “During that period, Shane Warne was playing, there were some other good spinners around, and I never really looked at myself in that way [leading the spin attack in the future],” Hauritz says. He doesn’t blame that debut Test for a slow start to his career. “I was very fortunate to play that Test. There weren’t too many spinners around. And I got the opportunity. And it was great to play. At the end of the day, my bowling wasn’t up to standard in first-class cricket in Australia, and I had to go back and become a better bowler. It took me four years to get to that stage where I could play at the next level.”As it would happen with the great Australian team of that era, the comeback, too, started through injury, this time to Jason Krejza’s ankle. “I was fortunate to have played a Test again, through injury and all that, but since then the bowling is improving all the time,” Hauritz says. “And when your bowling is improving, the confidence grows. To be the spinner going into this Test series, I would never have thought. It is a great achievement, but at the end of the day it doesn’t mean too much if you don’t do well.”The Hauritz on this tour is six years older, smarter, a better bowler. Still, he hasn’t got off to a desirable start. Piyush Chawla, a legspinner and a useful batsman in the lower order, danced down to him and lofted him with ease in the tour game against the Board President’s XI. Ajinkya Rahane, the Mumbai batsman, repeated the dose in the second innings.It’s not that Hauritz wasn’t prepared for an assault. “I don’t think you can have a better place to bowl spin,” Hauritz says. “You are bowling against the best players of spin in the world, but also on wickets that will help spin. It will be a really tough challenge, but it is something that I have always wanted to be part of. It is going to be fun, but it’s going to be really tough too.”Spinners better than Hauritz have come to India and have failed to have fun. Numerous others have had their careers destroyed here. Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, considered two of the best spinners of all time, averaged in the mid-40s here. Hauritz is not likely to even be compared to those bowlers. He has neither the mystery nor the amazing confidence. Neither the dark tricks nor a reputation that could create some doubt in the batsmen’s mind.Hauritz is a straight-talking, simple offspinner, who relies on working hard. There is even a hint of awe when he talks about the Indian batting line-up, a sense of hoping for the batsmen’s human errors. In this self-confessed greatest test of his, Hauritz will have done well if he has some fun over the next two weeks in Mohali and Bangalore. It’s going to be tough, as he says. Really tough.

Sobhana Mostary hits 44 but England spinners shackle chase in low-scorer

Alan Gardner05-Oct-2024England’s four-spinner attack shackled Bangladesh in a low-scorer at Sharjah to get their T20 World Cup campaign off to a winning start. Danni Wyatt-Hodge made 41 off 40 before England fell away with the bat but, on a slow, gripping surface, Bangladesh were kept in check throughout despite Sobhana Mostary’s career-best 44.With dew having played a limited role in the tournament so far, Heather Knight had opted to get a score on the board. Linsey Smith, the slow left-armer who spent six years out of the side, was selected in preference to Lauren Bell, alongside the formidable trio of Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean and Sarah Glenn. Smith bowled two in the powerplay, as England had hinted in the build-up, and finished with constricting figures of 2 for 11, as well as playing a part in the run-out of Nigar Sultana.Bangladesh had defended a similar score at this ground in their opening game against Scotland, but while Fahima Khatun and Ritu Moni were again impressive with the ball, they paid for allowing England to get away in the powerplay. Wyatt-Hodge and Maia Bouchier rode their luck at times – Bouchier was badly missed on 16 – but an opening stand of 48 in 6.4 overs opened up a chasm between the sides.The chase rarely got out of second gear, with only Mostary and Nigar reaching double-figures. Mostary should have been stumped on nought and would have been out lbw on 8 had England reviewed but she prevented the innings from flatlining even as Bangladesh struggled to build partnerships.

Mostary anchors, Bangladesh grounded

In contrast to the start made by England, Bangladesh managed just one boundary during the powerplay, losing both openers to be off the pace on 20 for 2. Dilara Akter, into the XI in place of Murshida Khatun, missed a sweep at Dean to be lbw in the fourth over, before Shathi Rani took on Smith only to be taken by the leaping Ecclestone at mid-off.The rebuilding job fell to Mostary, who had top-scored in victory over Scotland, and the captain, Nigar. The latter signalled that Bangladesh weren’t out of it, despite the climbing run rate, as she twice danced out to hit Glenn for fours in the ninth over.Bangladesh reached 42 for 2 at halfway, with Mostary picking up her first boundary shortly after as the third-wicket pair looked to push on. But Nigar was run out taking on Smith’s arm for a second that wasn’t there and Glenn bowled Shorna Akter to pile the pressure on Mostary. She responded by thrashing Dean over deep midwicket for six, leaving the requirement 40 from the last four overs. In the end, it was too much of an ask – although keeping Ecclestone wicketless for only the second time in 36 T20Is was a small victory.

Early running

The opening exchanges were watchful, as England attempted to size up a pitch they had never previously played on. It wasn’t until the fourth over that Wyatt-Hodge hit the first boundary – by which point she and opening partner Bouchier had been involved in three near-mishaps with their running.Bouchier survived a direct hit in the first over, via a well-judged tip-and-run to mid-off. Wyatt-Hodge was then left sprawling face first for the line as she attempted an even tighter single, only saved by the time it took Nahida Akter to return the ball to the non-striker’s stumps. And Wyatt-Hodge should have gone in the next over, picking out Moni in the covers and then sent back by Bouchier – only for the fielder to make a complete hash of throwing the ball in.The pair soon decided that boundaries were preferable to risky singles. Wyatt-Hodge swiped Fahima over square leg and then drilled four more through cover; Bouchier climbed into Marufa Akter as the swing began to wear off, striking back-to-back fours – although she should have gone next ball when prodding to point, where Rabeya Khan put down a straightforward chance. Another brace of fours off Nahida in the sixth over and England were up and running, 47 without loss from the powerplay.

England progress stalled

From that point on, Sharjah’s slow-and-low surface began to exert its influence on proceedings. England scored 29 runs and lost four wickets over the course of the next 6.1 overs as Bangladesh’s plethora of pace-off options came to the fore. Bouchier was first to go, plinking Rabeya to mid-on, and Nat Sciver-Brunt did not last long, playing around Fahima’s legbreak to be plumb lbw.Wyatt-Hodge and Knight steadied things but Moni’s peach did for the England captain, nipping the ball through the gate to hit middle and leg. When Wyatt-Hodge walked past one from Nahida to be stumped miles from safety, England were 76 for 4 and wondering how to resuscitate the innings in suffocating conditions.Alice Capsey became the first batter outside of the top two to find the boundary with a sweep off Nahida in the same over, but she became Fahima’s second victim when reversing straight to point. Danielle Gibson huffed and puffed, striking one four before edging behind for 7 off 11, while Amy Jones tried to make the most of being dropped on 3. From the penultimate ball, Ecclestone finally managed a clean hit, lofting the only six of the innings straight back down the ground.

Captain’s innings rescues home side from 62 for 5 as Nottinghamshire bow out

ECB Reporters Network07-Jul-2023Lewis Gregory and Ben Green batted Somerset into Finals Day of the Vitality Blast as the hosts completed a thrilling five-wicket victory over Notts Outlaws at Taunton.The Outlaws posted what looked a below par total of 157 for 6 after winning the toss, Matthew Montgomery top-scoring with 51 off 38 balls, Imad Wasim cracking 31 not out off 15 and Samit Patel contributing 30. Craig Overton claimed 2 for 23, while legspinner Ish Sodhi conceded only 22 from four overs.Somerset lost five wickets by the midway point of their reply before Gregory and Green put together an unbroken partnership of 96 to see their side to Edgbaston with three balls to spare.A big moment in the game came as early as the fourth delivery, Notts opener Alex Hales advancing to Overton and making room for a big shot, only to have his stumps scattered. Overton soon followed up by having the dangerous Colin Munro brilliantly caught by the back-peddling Matt Henry at mid-off.Henry then had Joe Clarke pouched at midwicket by Overton to make it 17 for 3 and although Montgomery and Patel took boundaries off the sixth over, bowled by Jack Brooks, the Outlaws ended the powerplay on 37 for 3.Patel pulled a six off Gregory as 14 came off the ninth over. He and Montgomery had taken their stand to 69 when the 13th over saw Patel bowled trying to swing Gregory into the leg side.Montgomery survived a tough chance to Tom Abell in the outfield to bring up his half-century, but the next ball saw him sky another catch and Overton made no mistake running in from long-off.Tom Moores was caught at short fine-leg off Gregory and after Sodhi’s economic contribution, it was left to Wasim and skipper Steven Mullaney to boost a meagre Notts total with some clean hitting in the final overs. Wasim struck a six and two fours in his entertaining cameo, but the Outlaws looked to face an uphill battle at the halfway stage.Their spirits were lifted when Tom Banton was caught behind reverse-sweeping off the first ball of the second over of Somerset’s innings, sent down by Wasim, the umpire’s decision of not out being reversed after a referral. It was 9 for 2 when the left-arm spinner completed a double-wicket maiden by clean bowling Tom Kohler-Cadmore for a duck.Smeed responded by hitting boundaries off the first three balls of Wasim’s second over. Abell produced three sweetly-struck fours of his own as the pair took Somerset to 44 for 2 by the end of the powerplay. The pair had added 46 when Abell played a ball from Calvin Harrison into the leg side and Smeed called for a second run, only to fall short as Hales produced a fast throw to the bowler’s end.Soon afterwards, Sean Dickson fell lbw to Harrison reverse-sweeping and Abell walked after under-edging a catch behind in the same over. At the halfway stage of their innings, Somerset were 62 for 5.The experienced Gregory then took charge, clearing the ropes off Patel twice and Wasim as he and Green, who smashed Harrison over long-on for six, repaired the damage in style, bringing up a half-century stand off 35 balls.Thirty were needed off the last three overs. Gregory brought a packed crowd to their feet with a six over midwicket off Wasim and went to a brilliant 32-ball fifty with another maximum over long-off in the penultimate over, delivered by Jake Ball, to finally break Notts’ resistance.With three needed, Green appeared to be dropped at cover off Fletcher. But it was a no-ball and the resulting free hit was dispatched for the winning runs.

Mumbai challenge could prove tricky since Rohit’s side have very little to lose

S Sudarshanan16-May-20222:35

Should Rohit experiment with batting down the order?

Big picture

Okay, let’s get this straight. Bowling isn’t really Sunrisers Hyderabad’s major worry. Yes, they have conceded runs at an economy rate of 8.74, which is the second-most. But it is not too much if you see that the best team has an economy rate of 8.09.That Sunrisers are still in contention for the playoffs – after five straight losses following five straight wins – is purely down to their batting from Nos. 3 to 6. Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran have been the key players at those positions and Sunrisers average 35.5 per dismissal for those spots combined, the best among the teams in IPL 2022.Kane Williamson’s run at the top of the order has been quite a forgettable one; his batting average of 18.9 this season is only better than Rohit Sharma’s 18.2 among captains. Moreover, his strike rate of 92.9 is the fifth-worst by any player to have batted in ten innings in an IPL season.With Abhishek Sharma being the leading run-getter for Sunrisers this season, it is perhaps time for Williamson to move down the order with either Glenn Phillips, who can bat anywhere in the top five, or Tripathi to take his spot at the top in order to maximise the powerplay. After all, Sunrisers have to win both their remaining matches in order to keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive.

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For Mumbai Indians, though, it is all about continuing to check out how their players do at different spots with an eye on the next season, something they have already started. Very little of Tristan Stubbs could be seen against Chennai Super Kings and they could continue to back him in the middle order, while young Tilak Varma continues to impress. While Mumbai are playing for pride, stopping another team from qualifying could be enough motivation to bring out their A-game.

In the news

Medium-pacer Akash Madhwal has joined Mumbai Indians as a replacement for the injured Suryakumar Yadav.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Tim David, 6 Daniel Sams, 7 Hrithik Shokeen, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Riley Meredith, 11 Kumar Kartikeya SinghSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Kane Williamson (capt), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Shashank Singh/Glenn Phillips, 8 Marco Jansen/Kartik Tyagi, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan

Strategy punt

• Both Rohit and Ishan Kishan strike at 90 or lower against Washington Sundar. As a result, it could pay for Sunrisers to bring the offspinner in early.
• Jasprit Bumrah has dismissed Kane Williamson once in ten T20 innings and Nicholas Pooran twice in three innings. That is perhaps a case for holding Bumrah back for the second half of the innings

Stats that matter