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Bengal’s openers both struck centuries and Pragyan Ojha took 5 for 71 as Bengal defended 329 in a 41-run victory in the second semi-final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2017
Scorecard
File photo – Pragyan Ojha’s third five-wicket haul in List A cricket put Bengal into their first final since 2012•PTI

Bengal openers Shreevats Goswami and Abhimanyu Easwaran struck centuries to help them post 329 for 4, before Pragyan Ojha took five of Jharkhand’s last six wickets – including that of MS Dhoni – to bowl them out for 288 to win by 41 runs at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla. They will play Tamil Nadu in the final on Monday.Goswami and Easwaran added 198 for the first wicket after Dhoni elected to field. Goswami, who was named Player of the Match, was the more aggressive of the two, hitting 11 fours and a six in his 99-ball 101 before he fell to medium-pacer Monu Kumar in the 35th over. Easwaran also made 101, his second century of the tournament, and like 127 against Mumbai, this innings too consisted of more running than it did boundaries.After his dismissal in the 40th over, Bengal scored 100 runs off 62 balls, fueled by their captain Manoj Tiwary. His unbeaten 75 off 49 balls, took Bengal past 320 while Varun Aaron took the most wickets for Jharkhand, but was also their most expensive bowler, going for 89 runs.Jharkhand started slowly, but their partnerships progressively increased till the fifth wicket fell. The two most substantial of those were 54 for the fourth wicket between Dhoni and Saurabh Tiwary (48) and 97 for the fifth between Dhoni and Ishank Jaggi. But their chase fizzled out when Dhoni fell to Ojha for for a 62-ball 70 at the end of the 43rd over. Jaggi (59) was dismissed by Sayan Ghosh (2-52) shortly after and the last four batsmen fell to Ojha in a collapse that eventually read 6 for 38.

A surface that quite green in the lead up to the Test, combined with the knowledge that the track generally flattens out, meant Brendon McCullum had no hesitation in saying: “Both teams will want to bowl if they win the toss”

Brydon Coverdale11-Feb-20161:54

‘Must adapt to conditions better’ – Smith

Fifteen wickets fell on the first day of the most recent Basin Reserve Test. The time before that it was 12. This time, who knows? But a surface that was more pitch-tinged green than green-tinged pitch, combined with the knowledge that the track generally flattens out and becomes easier for batting, meant New Zealand’s captain Brendon McCullum had no hesitation in speaking on behalf of both teams on match eve.”It’s fair to say both teams will want to bowl if they win the toss,” McCullum said.By comparison, Steven Smith was sitting on the Basin’s quaint picket fence when he declared that he would wait and see how the surface looked on Friday morning. “Traditionally the wickets here don’t play quite as bad as they look,” Smith said.For that knowledge he has had to trust secondary sources, for no Australians in this current squad have played a Test in New Zealand; McCullum is about to play his 17th at the Basin Reserve alone. It is a venue with some fine recent memories for McCullum, who made 302 there in the second innings against India two years ago. There will be some finer memories if he helps New Zealand to a Trans-Tasman win there now.And if indeed there is some swing on the first morning, and if indeed McCullum does win the toss and inserts Australia, it will be fascinating to see if Smith’s men have learnt from their failures in England during last year’s Ashes campaign. There, they were swung out for 136 at Edgbaston and 60 at Trent Bridge. Here there is no Stuart Broad or James Anderson to face, but there is a Trent Boult and a Tim Southee.”The way they played in those seamer-friendly conditions is certainly something we can look at,” McCullum said. “We’ve got a very good bowling line-up who will swing the ball and if the conditions do favour us, I’m confident we’ll ask some tough questions.”Our batting line-up is pretty similar to England; we’ve got some stroke-makers and some graft players. If you bat first, it’s a matter of getting through those tough times and hanging in the game because it can change so late.”On match eve, Smith was the first to admit that his team had something to prove in swinging and seaming conditions; their mountains of runs during the home summer all came on flat pitches with little assistance for the bowlers. The Australians like to dominate when batting and use attack as a form of defence, but Smith acknowledged that sometimes defence was the best form of defence.”You’ve got to play the ball under your eyes, you can’t really push out in front of yourself,” Smith said. “I think that’s one of the most important things. Making sure you’re leaving really well, being patient, and then if someone bowls a loose ball you’ve got to climb into it… Hopefully we’ve learnt from the way we played in England and we can adapt to whatever we’re faced with out there.”I think you do have to rein it back in at times. If someone is bowling well, whether it be on a flat wicket or a wicket that’s doing a bit, you have to adapt to what’s going on out there and rein it back in and wait for those loose balls. That’s what Test cricket is all about. Batting time is key, and hopefully some of our batters can bat some long periods out here and get us some big scores like we had back home in the summer.”One man the Australians will almost certainly go after is the offspinner Mark Craig, who finished the recent Test series in Australia with the unflattering figures of 8 for 513, most of his wickets coming late in innings where Australia already had huge totals.”I thought the boys played him really well back in Australia,” Smith said. “I think the conditions are a little bit different here. The wicket has a little bit of grass on it, so it could potentially take a little bit of spin, I’m not too sure yet. I think if the wicket is nipping around a bit when the spinner comes on, I think he is certainly someone we can look to go after. But we’ll just have to sum that up as the game goes on.”The lure for New Zealand in this series is the chance to lift the Trans-Tasman Trophy for the first time since 1993; Australia have not only the desire to keep their tight grip on the trophy, but also the added incentive of the No. 1 Test ranking. If they win the series they will jump to No. 1 for the first time since 2014.”We want to be No. 1 in all formats of the game,” Smith said. “That’s our goal as a side. I guess you sort of have to put it in the back of your mind and focus on each game as it comes. I’m sure if we play well we’ll have a lot of success on this tour. Obviously New Zealand are a very good side in these conditions so we’re going to have to be at our best if we’re going to beat them. But yeah, of course we’d love to be No. 1 at the end of this series.”

Unmukt Chand’s half-century complemented Sandeep Warrier’s three for 32 to take India Under-23 to victory over Pakistan Under-23 by three wickets in the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUnmukt Chand’s 103-ball 61 helped secure a three-wicket win for India•ACC/Mithilesh Mishra

Opener Unmukt Chand’s 103-ball 61 helped India Under-23s beat Pakistan Under-23s by three-wickets in a close match at the ACC Emerging Teams Cup.Put in to bat, Pakistan were unable to cope with an early spell from the pacers Sandeep Warrier and Sandeep Sharma, who dismissed top-order batsmen Babar Azam, Azeem Ghumman and Bilawal Bhatti within 10 overs to leave Pakistan struggling at 22 for 3.An 85-run fourth-wicket partnership between Usman Salahuddin and Umar Waheed stabilised Pakistan’s innings. However, Waheed gave his wicket away in the 36th over, his mistimed drive against left-arm spinner Akshar Patel reaching only as far as mid-on.Following the breakthrough, India seized the advantage by dismissing Mohammad Nawaz and Hammad Azam in quick succession. Salahuddin made a unhurried 61, but was eventually caught at cover by Baba Aparajith off Warrier, who was named the Man of the Match for his figures of three for 32. Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan struck a 21-ball 25 to push Pakistan to the cusp of 200.Set 192 to chase, India began slowly, but comfortably, with the openers Chand and Lokesh Rahul involved in an 84-run stand to put India in a very healthy position.However, Rahul’s wicket in the 26th over got Pakistan back in the game, as left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, who had returned to competitive cricket in March after suffering a serious injury to his spine in December, took two wickets, including that of Chand’s in the 38th over. Bhatti chimed in with a wicket and Nawaz took his second to leave India at 150 for 5, and needing 42 off 49.Ashok Menaria calmed the nerves by smashing two sixes and a four during his 9-ball 18, before becoming Hasan’s third victim in the 48th over. But with just one run to win, Aparajith took India home.

Mark Boucher, former South Africa wicketkeeper, has said that it is “unlikely” he will play professional cricket in the near future as the healing process to his left eye continues

Firdose Moonda08-Aug-2012Mark Boucher, former South Africa wicketkeeper, has said that it is “unlikely” he will play professional cricket in the near future as the healing process to his left eye continues. Boucher’s eyeball was lacerated last month on the first day of South Africa’s tour to England, when a bail ricocheted off the stumps and hit him during the tour match against Somerset in Taunton.He was forced to move his intended retirement, which he had planned after the Lord’s Test, forward and returned home to South Africa to begin treatment. Boucher underwent one operation in England followed up by five more procedures in Cape Town.Although it was initially reported that he could pick up movement and detect light with the injured eye and he was hopeful of making a return at franchise or amateur level, Boucher’s cricket playing days seem over, for the foreseeable future at least.”I have lost the lens, iris and pupil in my left eye. There was severe damage to my retina. I have had two major operations and four blood draining operations in the past three weeks and physically, at times, I have been in a lot of pain,” Boucher said at his first press conference since the incident, at Newlands, where he also revealed how much his life had changed in recent weeks.”It does get uncomfortable at times and being a sportsman, I want to be active and outdoors but, without a pupil, I find any amount of sunlight very harsh and have thus been restricted to the confines of my home. It is unlikely that I will play any professional cricket again in the near future, which is very unfortunate as I was looking forward to contributing as a player for the Cobras. The risk of additional damage to my left eye or even damage to the other eye, doesn’t warrant it.”Having already considered the end of his career before the tour to England, Boucher had future projects in the works some of which have now been fast-forwarded. He has invested in his “passion for wildlife” with South African Breweries and launched the SAB Boucher Non-Profit Company, which aims to help fund the fight against rhino poaching in Africa.Boucher has been vocal in his support for saving the rhino, which has come under severe threat in recent years. More than 900 rhinos have been killed across Africa in the last three years and the species is facing extinction in some areas. Boucher and team-mates past and present, such as Paul Harris, Dale Steyn and Justin Kemp, took part in a conservation event at the end of June to raise awareness for the rhino and Boucher’s involvement will continue through his new foundation.He has also started a wine-label with long-time friend Jacques Kallis. The wine, called the Innings, went on shelves in South African stores last weekend and reported good sales. Kallis also had the label stuck on his bat and pointed to it in celebration, along with gesturing to his eye, after his century at the Oval.Boucher’s role in the Test XI has been taken up by AB de Villiers in the interim which has allowed South Africa to play the extra batsmen in JP Duminy. Wicketkeeper Thami Tsolekile is expected to eventually take over as Boucher’s permanent replacement.Boucher has been monitoring the on-going series between South Africa and England and tweeting his thoughts. He has also been in contact with the squad and captain Graeme Smith hinted that they would seek Boucher’s advice on occasions, given the experience he gained over the years and the fighting way he approached the game.That fight lives on in Boucher and his parting words to the media were ones of hope, despite his current circumstances.”I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. Injuries happen and this could have happened earlier on in my career. I am incredibly grateful for the length of career that I have had and the amazing things I have experienced and people I have met during that time. This is just another challenge in my life and something that I will be working to overcome.”

Holland were denied the opportunity to push for a second win in as many days in the Clydesdale Bank 40 when their clash with Worcestershire in Rotterdam was washed out

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jul-2011
ScorecardHolland were denied the opportunity to push for a second win in as many days in the Clydesdale Bank 40 when their clash with Worcestershire in Rotterdam was washed out.Heavy rain in Hazelaarweg meant the Group A game was called off shortly after midday, meaning both teams pick up a point apiece. The Dutch will be disappointed to have not been able to take the field after their 40-run victory over Kent on home soil on Sunday.Peter Borren’s side have won three of their eight fixtures, while Worcestershire prop up the rest in the standings having won just once in six outings in the competition this season.

A round-up of the second round of matches of the Sri Lanka Under 23 Youth Tournament Division 1

Sa'adi Thawfeeq19-Jul-2010

Group A

Nondescripts CC was extremely unlucky to miss out on victory by a mere one run in their Under-23 Youth Division I tournament match against Navy SC at Welisara. Set a target of 110 for victory off 14 overs, NCC ended up on 109 for 6 and thus had to be content with only first-innings points.The offspin of Umesh Udayanga (5-63) and the slow left-arm orthodox bowling of Roshan Wijenayake (5-33) left NCC with a small target to chase in the fourth innings. However luck was not on their side. For NCC, former Sri Lanka U-19 cricketer Rishan Kavinda’s century and Angelo Perera’s stroke-filled knock of 85 enabled them to gain a useful first-innings lead of 94.None of the other matches came anywhere close to achieving a winning result, with all of them ending in draws.The 18-year-old cricketer from the South, Shehan Jayasuriya of Prince of Wales, gave Moors SC a convincing lead on the first innings against Burgher RC at Braybrooke Place. Jayasuriya scored a brilliant century as Moors declared at 387 for 9 in reply to BRC’s 179.The offspin of Maduka Liyanapathiranage helped Chilaw Marians to a close 37-run first-innings advantage over Bloomfield at Reid Avenue. Bloomfield were well placed at 156 for 5 overnight and set to overhaul Chilaw Marians’ first innings score of 259, but thanks to Liyanapathiranage’s probing offspin, they managed only 222. The only consolation for Bloomfield was Amal Atapattu who took eight wickets in the match with his left-arm spin.

Group B

Eighteen-year-old former St Sebastian’s slow left-arm bowler Anuk de Alwis (6-74) bowled Moratuwa SC to first-innings points over Seeduwa Raddoluwa CC. In another match Ragama CC got the better of Colombo Colts CC also on the first innings.

Invincibles choked by spin as Heather Knight oversees knockout victory at The Oval

ECB Reporters Network17-Aug-2024London Spirit secured a place in the Women’s Hundred final against Welsh Fire at Lord’s with an eight-wicket win over Oval Invincibles.A disciplined bowling performance followed by a Georgia Redmayne half-century took the side to their first final since the competition’s inception – and ensured that across both men’s and women’s competitions, all eight teams will have featured in the Hundred final.Spirit won the toss and elected to bowl. Winfield-Hill hit Danielle Gibson for three boundaries in the second set to take the Invincibles to 21 for 0 after 10 balls before Charlie Dean trapped Paige Scholfield lbw for 5.The introduction of Sarah Glenn saw the back of Winfield-Hill, the Invincibles skipper slapping a return catch back to make the score 37 for 2.At the halfway point of their innings, Invincibles had moved on to 54 for 2, the Spirit spinners bowling tightly, Dean, Glenn and Deepti Sharma with the combined figures of 2 for 25 from 30 balls.Gibson, who had previously dropped Alice Capsey twice, eventually removed her for 30 before Kapp fell to Glenn for a run-a-ball 26.Dean then combined twice with Gibson in the deep to dismiss Mady Villiers and Laura Harris to finish with figures of 3 for 24 – Gibson’s full-length heroics to snare Villiers one of the catches of the tournament.Gray returned for the final five, dismissing MacDonald-Gay first ball and having Smale stumped as the Invincibles closed their innings on 113 for 9.Chasing 114 to win, opening batter Redmayne made an unbeaten 53 from 47 balls and was well supported by captain Heather Knight who made a classy 36 not out.Spirit had reached 33 for 0 after the powerplay, Meg Lanning going well on 21 from 14, both she and Redmayne surviving tough chances to Villiers and Harris.Marizanne Kapp returned to the attack to have Lanning caught behind for 22 and Amanda-Jade Wellington had Cordelia Griffith stumped to leave the Spirit on 42 for 2 after 40 to bring Knight to the crease.From there on, Spirit cruised to their target, Redmayne and Knight sharing an unbroken stand of 74.Meerkat Match Hero, Redmayne, said: “It’s really special, we came into this game in really good spirits.”Oval have probably got the best of us in the games we’ve played against them previously. We knew if we did the simple things right that we’ve got the team to be able to win the game and get to a Lord’s final at home which is going to be incredible.”On her innings she said: “It’s nice knowing what kind of intent you’ve got to go in with. Sometimes when you’re facing some really good bowling upfront you can get caught up in that a bit, but it helps having kept for a hundred balls beforehand.”

Despite Livingstone’s 94 off 48, Kings fall short in their chase of 214

Vishal Dikshit17-May-2023A dazzling display of boundary hitting all around the ground from Rilee Rossouw in his unbeaten 82 off 37, combined with useful contributions from the other Delhi Capitals top-four batters, handed Punjab Kings a 15-run defeat and severely dented their playoff chances.Kings got close to the finish line in the end, thanks to a belligerent 94 off 48 from Liam Livingstone, but he fought a lone battle. The loss kept Kings on the eighth spot with 12 points. They now depend on many other results going their way to stay alive in the playoffs race because they have only one match to go, and three teams are already above 14 points, which is the most Kings can get to.Kings were mostly behind the asking rate right from the start because their only other batter who scored over 25 was Atharva Taide, who struggled for fluency and retired out on 55 off 42 balls. Livingstone’s pursuit of boundaries in the end kept Kings’ slim hopes alive, whether they needed 79 off 24 or 38 off 12. In the last over too, when they needed 23 from the last three balls, they got a lifeline when Ishant Sharma sent down a no-ball which Livingstone sent for six, making it 16 required from three with a free hit coming. But Livingstone failed to connect with the subsequent full toss and holed out to long-off on the last ball.

Warner, Shaw flick the switch on

In the first IPL game in Dharamsala in ten years, David Warner and Prithvi Shaw saw out the first 16 balls for no boundaries before racing away. Warner broke the shackles with consecutive fours off Sam Curran before pulling Kagiso Rabada for two sixes. Shaw too got going when he saw Arshdeep Singh’s short balls didn’t have much pace. He pulled and glanced him for 4, 4 and 6 in a 16-run over. When Warner also put away Nathan Ellis’ slower balls for fours, Capitals ended the powerplay on 61 and soon brought up their highest opening stand of this IPL.Prithvi Shaw and David Warner got going gradually in the powerplay•BCCI

Rossouw’s fifty takes it up a notch

Rahul Chahar wasn’t having a good day. Soon after he was put away for three fours in his first two overs by Shaw, he dropped a tough chance to give Warner a life on 39. Warner continued to attack because Capitals had all ten wickets in hand at the halfway mark. But when he skied one more, Shikhar Dhawan completed a spectacular catch at mid-off to remove him for 46 off 31.Capitals kept the left-right combination by sending out Rossouw at No. 3, and he attacked literally from ball one. That he pulled his first ball for four and drove his third for four more showed how good the pitch was for batting. The range he showed in the 13th over off Rabada epitomised his innings; a length ball hit straight for six, another length ball placed just wide of short third for four, and yet another length ball dispatched over square leg with a lovely pick-up shot for six in a 17-run over. Not long after Rossouw also punished Chahar and Curran for sixes, Shaw holed out for 54 in the 15th over.

Kings trust Brar for death overs

Rossouw had raced away to 45 off 21, and Capitals to 148, with five overs to go when Dhawan bravely brought on Harpreet Brar, who gave away just 14 runs in the 16th and 18th overs combined, before Phil Salt and Rossouw made up for it in the last two. Salt smoked Ellis for two sixes over long-on while also edging one delivery for four.For the final over, Dhawan once again trusted Brar instead of the designated death bowler Arshdeep, who had been expensive in his first two. Rossouw mercilessly muscled Brar, who also gifted two wides, for two sixes and a four on the leg side. A misfield on the last ball from Rabada at fine leg gave Capitals their first 200-plus total of the season.Liam Livingstone fought a lone battle•Associated Press

Kings also start slow

The Capitals quicks hardly gave any freebies early on. Khaleel Ahmed started with a maiden to Prabhsimran Singh, Ishant had Dhawan caught at slip for a duck, and Khaleel nearly bowled another maiden to keep Kings on 10 for 1 after three. Prabhsimran then hit the pedal with three consecutive fours before Taide also collected boundaries to get out of the hole of 1 off eight balls. Prabhsimran and Taide also enjoyed a fair share of luck. Their leading edges fell safe, and Capitals missed a few direct hits. Taide’s edges even fetched him some boundaries. Kings finished the powerplay on 47 for 1, with the asking rate almost 12 an over.

Livingstone stands tall but alone

As soon as Prabhsimran holed out to long-on off Axar Patel, it was all a Livingstone show. It started with Livingstone getting a life on 3 off Kuldeep Yadav when Anrich Nortje put him down at deep midwicket, and Taide too got dropped off Kuldeep in his next over. Taide, however, could not score freely as he struggled to find the gaps or go over the fielders.Livingstone, meanwhile, made use of his big bat swings for plenty of hits in the ‘V’ down the ground when the bowlers missed their lengths even marginally. He hit a boundary nearly every over and was only beaten by Kuldeep a couple of times. In the 15th over, he dispatched two full tosses from Mukesh Kumar for fours but Taide was labouring at the other end and he retired out when Kings needed a stiff 86 from 30 with their hitters Jitesh Sharma, Shahrukh Khan and Curran yet to come.Despite the firepower in the dugout, the heavy lifting was left for Livingstone. Jitesh holed out to long leg for a duck in the 16th and Shahrukh found long-on in the 17th. Meanwhile, Livingstone blasted two sixes and a four off Khaleel, and three sixes came off Mukesh in the 18th to make it 38 required from 12. Nortje then rattled Curran’s leg stump with a yorker and when 33 were left from the last six balls, Ishant started with a dot to all but seal it. His no-ball was thwarted for six, but he finished the game with three dots and send Kings’ hopes crashing.

Duo lead recovery after England manage to dent bright start headed by Brathwaite’s fifty

Valkerie Baynes09-Mar-2022Two key partnerships at either end of the day pushed West Indies closer to parity with England on the second day of a to-and-fro Test in Antigua.This match has had not so much the twists and turns of a helter-skelter but the slow, loping swings of a pirate ship ride after England’s recovery from 48 for 4 to a respectable 311 built on Jonny Bairstow’s century and then West Indies’ rapid response via Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell as the visiting bowlers failed to penetrate with the new ball.West Indies were enjoying all the fun of the fair at 44 without loss by lunch, Brathwaite going along at a run-a-ball, but by tea they were 127 for 4 and England had wrested back some control. Then Nkrumah Bonner and Jason Holder combined for an unbroken 75-run partnership for the fifth wicket that kept their side in the contest.Chris Woakes was one of the bowlers tipped by England’s interim director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, to blossom as a leader of the attack in the controversial absence of long-time spearheads James Anderson and Stuart Broad. But he endured a torrid day, conceding 23 off his first three overs and only finding relief when he snared the wicket of Jermaine Blackwood moments before the second of several brief showers which halted play intermittently through the day, brought about an early tea break. Woakes was struck for 10 fours in as many overs, which cost 51 runs on a benign pitch that for a second straight day offered little to either side.When he rejoined the attack for two more overs – before yet another of the squalls which had dampened England’s efforts with a reverse-swinging ball brought about stumps – Woakes conceded just three more runs.Spinner Jack Leach had bowled five tight overs until Campbell clubbed him for four over extra cover and Brathwaite thundered a six down the ground in Leach’s sixth as West Indies’ opening swelled to 83. But it was Craig Overton who made the initial breakthrough with a short ball down the leg side that tempted Campbell into a pull and brushed the glove on the way through to keeper Ben Foakes to punctuate West Indies’ keen start.As Shamarh Brooks took West Indies into the nineties with consecutive boundaries off Overton, Ben Stokes entered the attack to bowl for the first time since suffering a side strain during the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney.A single off Stokes’ first ball brought up Brathwaite’s fastest Test fifty – off just 62 balls – but Mark Wood, whose pace and reverse swing kept West Indies’ batters on their toes, struck when the West Indies captain chased a wide delivery only to send it directly to Overton at gully. Then Stokes removed Brooks, edging to Joe Root for a simple catch at slip, and suddenly West Indies were wobbling.Foakes put down a difficult chance diving low to his left off Blackwood, who was yet to score when he got an inside edge to a Wood delivery which found the keeper’s glove but failed to stay there as he went to ground.Blackwood, eventually caught in the gully by Overton, was given not out by umpire Joel Wilson amid hearty appeals from the England side, who swiftly reviewed. UltraEdge confirmed Blackwood had indeed laid bat on ball before it struck his thigh pad and looped into the air as West Indies lost a fourth wicket for 44 runs.Leach bowled nine maidens in all – seven of them on the trot in the evening session – in an excellent comeback from a chastening Ashes tour as Holder and Bonner chose their moments well in a sensible, steadying effort. Holder led the way, picking off six fours and a cracking six – over long-on off Root – to close on 43 not out, with Bonner on 34.Earlier, England resumed at 268 for 6 with Bairstow on 109 but, with the ball only six overs old, West Indies had designs on wrapping up the innings quickly. They did so before lunch, but not before Bairstow had reached 140 and taken the England total into elusive territory – past the 300-mark for the first time since August 2021.Jayden Seales came on in the fifth over and struck with his fourth delivery, an excellent short ball that touched Woakes’ glove and sailed through to keeper Joshua Da Silva, ending his seventh-wicket stand with Bairstow at 71. Seales then made it two in three balls when Overton stabbed a length ball towards short leg, where the crouching Bonner took a roundabout catch via his midriff, thighs and eventually hands.Bairstow continued to accumulate, driving Holder with aplomb through cover moments before feeding him a return catch that bobbled out of Holder’s hands. Bairstow was eventually last man out, top-edging Alzarri Joseph high over backward point, where Holder scrambled around and pouched an excellent catch.

Malan had scores of 19, 55 and 99* in the three-match series, which took England past Australia to the No. 1 position in the T20I team rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2020Dawid Malan achieved the highest-ever points in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen, getting to 915 at the end of the T20I series in South Africa. In the process, he also became the first batsman to cross the 900-point mark since Aaron Finch got there in July 2018, his 173 runs at a strike rate of 161.68 helping England to a 3-0 series sweep in South Africa. Malan finished the series 44 points ahead of second-placed Babar Azam.Malan had scores of 19, 55 and 99* in the three-match series, which took England past Australia to the No. 1 position in the T20I team rankings. India, Pakistan and South Africa make up the top five. New Zealand are in sixth place after their 2-0 win over West Indies, who have slipped to tenth.Among other players in action in South Africa, Buttler gained seven spots to get to No. 21 among batsmen, while Rassie van der Dussen’s 136 runs lifted him 17 places to No. 5, a career-best. Faf du Plessis’s 121 runs also helped him get into the top 20.Of the bowlers, Adil Rashid gained three spots to get to No. 4, while Chris Jordan gained one place to get to No. 12.Across in New Zealand, the home side won the first two games before the third was washed out, and Lockie Ferguson, the best bowler across the two sides with seven wickets, including 5 for 21 in the first game, moved up 42 spots to the 32nd position. Glenn Phillips, who smashed the quickest T20I century by a New Zealander in the second fixture, got into the top 100 for the first time, moving to No. 86.