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Ricky Ponting led Tasmania to a what appeared a decisive lead after Luke Butterworth razed Western Australia’s first innings for 97 on day two

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2013
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Ricky Ponting led Tasmania to a what appeared a decisive lead after Luke Butterworth razed Western Australia’s first innings for 97 on day two of the Sheffield Shield match at the WACA ground.Resuming at 6 for 54, the Warriors could make nothing of Butterworth, who now has 35 wickets at 17.02 in the Shield this season. They had a chance of restricting the visitors when the Tigers quickly slipped to 2 for 10, but Ponting forged the biggest stand of the match with Alex Doolan to stretch the lead.Ponting’s innings was aggressive, featuring two sixes, as the ball continued to zip around for the WA bowlers. Ryan Duffield enjoyed most success with his left-arm swing.Steady contributions down the order frustrated WA’s efforts to start a rush of wickets, and Jason Krejza will hope to add to his side’s advantage when he and the last man Adam Maher resume on day three.

Mahela Jayawardene is looking at the positives of having pulled two games back from the brink as opposed to feeling frustrated at not having finished those games off

Sidharth Monga16-Feb-2012Mahela Jayawardene is looking at the positives of having pulled two games back from the brink as opposed to feeling frustrated at not having finished those games off. Sri Lanka’s three games in the series so far have been weird, in that they lacked flow and continuity. At times they showed remarkable spirit and intelligence, at times they played ordinary cricket that confounds.In Sri Lanka’s first game, their batting was stop-start against India but their bowlers pulled things back, before they were a little slow in the field as India came out from a slippery position. In the second game against Australia, Sri Lanka started superbly, Jayawardene was exceptional as captain, but their batsmen messed up the chase. Angelo Mathews didn’t give up, though, and nearly took them to an exceptional win.In their second meeting with India, the Sri Lanka batsmen floundered. Rickety start, Dinesh Chandimal-led rebuilding, and when the time arrived to push on, more wickets fell. The bowlers were ordinary at the start of the chase, but the fielders pulled them back so well they could smell the win, only for the fielding to break down and leave Sri Lanka with two points from three games.”We take it in a positive way but we realise we did make mistakes,” Jayawardene said. “We were not ruthless enough to finish games off, and that is a disappointment. We need to make sure, when we get into those situations, we finish games off and get that winning habit going. That’s something we’ve spoken about and hopefully we can get that right tomorrow.”Jayawardene said Sri Lanka needed to react better in those crunch situations. “In certain situations we did not react that well. Even with the bat, it’s not just the last 10 overs. We lost two early wickets and we built up. When we were setting up in that Powerplay, we lost two wickets and didn’t take advantage. Missed run-outs in last two overs. Overall we didn’t handle certain situations that well. At the end of the day I thought we came back strongly in a lot of departments to compete with India, so that was a positive, but we need to be ruthless to finish the game off.”He said the problem hadn’t reached a stage where it could be said Sri Lanka had forgotten how to win, but admitted the need for wins was urgent. “We’ve been winning but when you start winning more percentages then [only] you get a good habit going,” Jayawardene said. “We have been winning in between and losing a few games, playing some games really badly so there was the inconsistency. That’s something we’re trying to rectify.”Tomorrow’s game against Australia will be Sri Lanka’s fourth of the tournament. Even if they win, they will have to do much better in the second half of the tournament in order to make the finals. “It’s a crucial game for us, and every game is important,” Jayawardene said. “I can’t predict how many wins we need to get into the finals. What’s in our control is to try and win matches.”It’s a good game – the last one – with points on board, and if we can play the way we did in the last three games, and control certain situations better and make less mistakes, we’ll get those wins under our belt. One, two, three good wins, and we can be on top of the table.”

A round-up of the action from the second day of the semi-finals of the Duleep Trophy 2010-11

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2011South Zone have taken a stranglehold of their semi-final against Central Zone at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, after their seamers helped bowl Central out for 178 on the second day. South didn’t enforce the follow-on and were 397 ahead with eight wickets in hand by the end of the day.After the first day had been dominated by South’s batsmen, the first session of the second day saw five wickets fall. Central got South’s last two wickets cheaply, fast bowler Umesh Yadav dismissing overnight double-centurion Manish Pandey for 218 to end the innings. But Central were in trouble by lunch, with each of the three Karnataka seamers in South’s team – Sreenath Aravind, Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun – taking a wicket each, to leave them 61 for 3 at the break. Aravind set the tone, bowling a very tight line and getting Central opener Aakash Chopra for four. Vinay Kumar and Mithun picked it up from there, as Central’s top order struggled.The seamers continued to dominate after the break, with Vinay Kumar testing the batsmen with some short balls. He got Naman Ojha to fend one to forward short leg and Abhinav Mukund held on to a sharp catch. Devendra Bundela never looked comfortable. His first runs were an edge off Mithun that fell short of Manish Pandey at second slip and ran away to the third-man fence. He looked uneasy against Vinay Kumar’s short stuff. Vinay Kumar tried a slower bouncer and it ended up reaching Bundela at under 80kph, but Bundela still almost ducked under it and hooked it for a single to deep square leg as an afterthought. Rajasthan’s Ashok Menaria looked the best of Central’s batsman, and raced to a boundary-filled 79 off 63 balls. But the rest of Central’s batting didn’t support him and they conceded a 265-run first-innings lead.South decided to bat again and both their openers – Mukund and Robin Uthappa – got half-centuries as South reached 132 for 2 at the close of play, with Mukund still batting on 60.

North Zone have the advantage in their match against West Zone at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. West trail by 284 runs with five wickets in hand at the end of the second day, but it could have been worse for them. After North had amassed 460 in the first innings, West slumped to 63 for 4 before a 107-run partnership between Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer and Saurashtra’s Ravindra Jadeja gave their score some respectability. Legspinner Amit Mishra dismissed Jaffer four overs before stumps, leaving West staring at a stiff task.North started the day on 315 for 5 and their lower order added some useful runs to take them to a strong total. Overnight batsman Uday Kaul took his score from 55 to 89 and then seamer Sumit Narwal scored 59 off 53 balls, as West struggled to wipe out the tail. Narwal then did the job with the ball, taking three early wickets to leave West in all sorts of trouble.

Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka believes their chances of returning to Test cricket in 18 months are “very realistic”

Cricinfo staff24-Feb-2010Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka believes their chances of returning to Test cricket in 18 months are “very realistic”. His confidence stems from the appointment of a new coaching team – Alan Butcher was announced as Zimbabwe’s new coach over the weekend, and will be supported by assistant Stephen Mangongo along with former international players Heath Streak and Grant Flower.The country lost several leading players in an exodus following Heath Streak’s removal from the captaincy in 2004 and the situation became worse in 2006 when the Zimbabwe board suspended the weakened national team from Tests.”We endorsed them [the new coaching setup] unanimously,” Chingoka told . “They have the full support of the board. If you talk to experts like Dave Houghton and Alan Butcher they will tell you it’s very realistic, and I fully agree with them.”We just need to play a lot of games against ‘A’ sides from the leading Test nations. When we get back to Tests, we would want to start with lower sides like Bangladesh and then work ourselves upwards. The management is working on a program to take us to where we want.”Chingoka said cricket in Zimbabwe was making progress following a period of deterioration that mirrored the economic and political problems in the country. “It’s healthy and long may it continue,” Chingoka said. “The game is bigger than all of us. Everyone is just concentrating on cricket.”Zimbabwe announced in 2006 that they were temporarily withdrawing from Tests, having last played India at home in September 2005. Only a few players from the exodus, including Steak and left-arm spinner Ray Price, made comebacks. The country continues to play ODIs and Twenty20s but languishes at the bottom of the world rankings.However, the domestic structure has been overhauled and restructured competitions like the Logan Cup have convinced former internationals like Sean Ervine to return home from England. The country’s first Twenty20 competition – the Stanbic Bank 20 Series – was also played recently and featured former Australia allrounder Ian Harvey and England’s Chris Silverwood as player-coaches.Zimbabwe are scheduled to play one Twenty20 international and five ODIs on their tour of West Indies starting on Sunday.

Coach Langer said “it’ll be probably difficult” for Mayank to play in the playoffs

Neeraj Pandey04-May-2024Mayank Yadav, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) quick, is set to miss the remainder of IPL 2024, although there may be a small chance that he could still feature in the playoffs if LSG make it.When asked if Mayank was completely out of the tournament, head coach Justin Langer said: “No, we’ll be praying that he can play, hopefully, in the playoffs, but I’m a realist as well. It’ll be probably difficult for him to get up for the back-end of the tournament.”He’s had a scan. He’s got a small tear in a similar area to where his last one was. So it’s very unfortunate. We saw the impact he had when he came back into the game. But we can all sleep.”There will always be a lot of discussion about fast bowlers, and I know he spoke to [Jasprit] Bumrah after the game and he reassured him that if he’s going to be a fast bowler, part of his journey as a young fast bowler, he’s going to get injuries.”So in my experience, every young fast bowler, probably until they get to 25 or 26, is going to experience different injuries. And it’s the most unfortunate. He’s got huge potential. But his rehabilitation was excellent. He went into the game [against MI], had a couple of bowls before the game. He was completely pain free. So it’s very sad for him and it’s disappointing for LSG as well that he might [not] play the rest of the tournament.”Related

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Mayank, 21, set the tournament alight when he made his debut for LSG on March 30. He was blowing teams away with pace. Generating speeds of 155kph – and consistently at that – he became the first man in IPL history to win the Player-of-the-Match award in his first two matches. But then, after combined figures of 6 for 41 against Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, he hit a setback. Mayank bowled only one over in his third game of the season, and sat out the next five that followed as a result of pain in his abdomen.Mayank made his comeback earlier this week, in the win against Mumbai Indians, but had to leave prematurely again. “Looks like he is sore in the same spot,” Langer said at the time.Later, at the post-match presentation, KL Rahul, the LSG captain, said, “He was out in the last game because of a slight pain in his side, not a side strain, but slight pain is there. After the first ball [of his fourth over vs MI], he said the same thing: ‘ [it’s hurting a bit]’. So I said [he] might as well go out and not risk the next five balls. He is still young and precious to us, so we need to look after him.”Rahul had been keen to get Mayank back in the playing XI as quickly as possible. At the toss for the MI game, he said, “[Mayank] has bowled really well in the couple of games that he has played and has a huge impact for us. As a captain, I am always tempted to bring him in the team as quickly as possible,” Rahul said. “So I have been pushing the physios and the medical team to get him ready as quickly as possible. Even if he is about 95[% fit], I keep pushing them to give him the confidence to play the game. But obviously, they know better than I do. I will make emotional decisions, and so will Mayank.”That raised questions about whether Mayank was fielded before he was ready, but that day Langer said, “His rehab has been perfect, he bowled pain-free in the last week and looked in great condition.”Against MI, Mayank had bowled his first three overs – cranking up his pace as he went – for 31 runs before he was given the 19th over. His first ball crashed into Mohammad Nabi’s stumps but Mayank then went off the field, and his over was completed by Naveen-ul-Haq. Mayank did not look in visible discomfort when he went off and was later subbed out as the Impact Player for Arshin Kulkarni.Mayank had started his day in dramatic fashion when he came on after the powerplay and his first delivery, at 144.1kph, struck Nehal Wadhera in the helmet. He also went past the 150kph mark later in the over but largely bowled in the 140-147kph range and pitched most of his deliveries in the short or short-of-good-length area.LSG are currently placed third on the table with six wins from 10 games and will play their next one at home against KKR on Sunday before hitting the road for three away games – against SRH, DC and MI – which will end their league stage on May 17.

Tourists declare on 413 after 67-over innings on opening day of tour in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2023SL President’s XI 93 for 2 trail England Lions 413 for 8 dec (Lees 103, Haynes 64*, Bohannon 58, Abell 57, Smith 50) by 320 runsAlex Lees lived up to the fast-paced standards that he had instilled in him during his summer in England’s Test ranks, by striking a 94-ball century on the opening day of England Lions’ tour of Sri Lanka.Lees, who debuted in the Caribbean in March last year, played all seven of England’s Tests in a remarkable summer under the new leadership of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, but was dropped for the recent tour of Pakistan after making 327 runs at 25.15, including two half-centuries.His omission from the ECB’s list of centrally contracted players was a further sign that he had slipped down the pecking order, with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett preferred in Pakistan, but his performance against a Sri Lanka President’s XI was clear evidence that the Test team’s new mindset is firmly entrenched in his psyche.He struck 12 fours and two sixes in his innings of 103, the second-fastest century in England Lions’ history, behind Luke Wright – the new national selector – who reached the mark in 91 balls in New Zealand in 2009.Speaking ahead of the tour, Lees acknowledged that an England recall might not be on the immediate horizon, given the importance of backing the Test incumbents in the current regime. But despite his intermittent success, particularly in two key run-chases against New Zealand and India, he admitted that a top score of 67 in ten Tests had been his downfall.”I think I enjoyed being in that environment, especially in the summer playing in a successful side,” he said. “It was brilliant. I think my reflections on playing those games, I sort of played pretty competently but just lacked that big score which is obviously the difference. As a top-order batter, you’re averaging mid-twenties to mid-forties for the summer which, in essence, is what your Test summer is built around.”Nevertheless, Lees’ influence rubbed off throughout a Lions batting card with a very “Bazball” look to it, as England declared on 413 for 8 after 67 overs, a performance that came at better than a run a ball, and included four further half-centuries for Tom Abell (57), Josh Bohannon (58), Jack Haynes (64 not out) and Jamie Smith, whose 35-ball at No.8 was the quickest by an England player at Lions level.Haseeb Hameed was another man who featured at the top of the Test batting order in 2022, with his most recent appearance coming in the Ashes at Sydney in January, but he fared rather less well in his first outing as Lions captain. He fell to his first ball of the match, caught off Kavindu Pathiratne in the first over of the match.In reply, the President’s XI reached 93 for 2 in 19.5 overs before the close, with spinners Liam Patterson-White and Jack Carson both picking up a wicket.The Lions are playing all 16 of their players in this match in Colombo, which is not being classified as first-class. The President’s XI used ten bowlers in the course of England’s innings.

“Not sure we’ve seen the end of him but we’ll wait and see, that will be his decision”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2021Justin Langer retains hope that Tim Paine will return to international cricket after terming the former Australia captain “one of the best people in the game” following his whistle-stop visit to Hobart ahead of the Ashes.Langer made the trip south after being released from quarantine last week with Paine’s captaincy having come to end while he was with the group of players and staff returning from the T20 World Cup.Having initially remained available for selection for the Ashes, with all indications he would have been picked had he proved his fitness after neck surgery, Paine then opted to step away from the game to manage his mental health which has led to a debut for Alex Carey.Related

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It has created the possibility that Paine has played his last Test and while Langer said the immediate priority was his health and family he did not believe it had to be the end.”He absolutely loves cricket,” Langer said. “He’s 37, he’s as fit as any athlete, certainly in our squad and we’ve got some fit athlete’s. He looks after himself so well. Who knows. His No. 1 priority at the moment is his family and that’s how it should be. Not sure we’ve seen the end of him but we’ll wait and see, that will be his decision.Justin Langer visited Tim Paine last week•Getty Images

“He’s one of my really close friends and someone I admire enormously. Certainly in this generation of players he’s one of the best people I’ve met in the game. He’s been our captain for a long time, me and him have been through a journey like we have with all this group, so it was nice to see him.”Langer confirmed that he first knew of the text messages in mid-2018 as the squad was heading to England for a limited-overs tour and added he had not heard about them again until shortly before Paine stepped down.Paine has not put a timeframe on his break and Australia have named a squad for the first two Ashes Tests. It had been considered likely that this series would mark the end of his Test career.Langer, who came into the role after the ball-tampering scandal, also lamented the situation Paine had been left in”We live in a world of perfectionism, don’t we? We’re a very judgemental society,” he said. “As I said at my very first press conference when I was asked about Steve Smith and David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, there’s not one person asking questions or watching this who hasn’t made a mistake in their life.”There’s not a single person. And our captain, one of the best, made a mistake and is paying a heavy price for it.”