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Vince scored 171 from 126 balls to set up a match-winning total as Hampshire eased past Yorkshire

Paul Edwards at the Ageas Bowl18-Jun-2018
ScorecardThe fourth ball James Vince received in this match was pitched slightly short and would have passed a foot outside off stump had he not hit it between mid-off and extra cover for four. Most batsmen would probably have let the thing go and acquired a little more knowledge about the pace of the Ageas Bowl wicket. But Vince is not to be numbered among that majority, a point made plain when he rocked back and put his bat to the ball with a minimum of force. Perhaps at that moment Yorkshire’s new captain Steve Patterson knew his team might be in for some trouble; for their part, Hampshire supporters knew they might be in for a treat. Both parties were correct. The bowler, Matthew Fisher, trudged back to his mark.Five other Yorkshire cricketers had similarly reflective walks ahead of them this memorable afternoon. By the time he was dismissed, caught at long-on off Adam Lyth in the 46th over of the innings, Vince had hit 19 further fours and three sixes in 171 runs scored off 126 balls. Hampshire’s total of 348 proved far too many for their opponents, who lost their first three wickets for 47 and were eventually bowled out for 241. Yorkshire’s only consolation was provided by Jonathan Tattersall, whose career-best 89 gave matters a patina of respectability. The truth, however, was that much of Yorkshire’s innings seemed weirdly unrelated to the one it had followed.The talk will now be of consequences and contexts. It is Hampshire who will face Kent in the penultimate Lord’s final a week on Saturday. That will be something of an occasion for Sam Northeast, who will play against the side he used to captain. Yorkshire folk may argue that they would be in St John’s Wood had they been able to select the five players currently on England duty. Yet nothing, including the easy-paced pitch on which this game was played, should detract from Vince’s artistry or the ease with which he and Northeast dissected Yorkshire’s attack during their 142-run stand for the third wicket. Some of the Hampshire’s captain’s shots were so perfect in their execution that it barely mattered that this was a match of some importance. “Do not choose a coward’s explanation that hides behind the cause and the effect,” sang Leonard Cohen in “Alexandra Leaving”.Vince is an alchemist. When he bats as he did against Yorkshire it is difficult to believe even Tom Graveney’s timing possessed greater caressive power. His pulls through midwicket are Laxmanesque in their effrontery. On afternoons like this he takes his place at cricket’s top table. Curiously there were none of the signature front-foot cover drives after which the ball accelerates to the rope as if late for something. But there was a whip through the leg side off Fisher, a drive through point off Ben Coad and a sweep off Kyle Carver. Vince’s eloquence at the wicket makes post-match interviews unnecessary. What can he say that he has not already shown?Yorkshire’s bowlers took two early wickets but their others could be viewed by Hampshire as acceptable collateral damage in the headlong pursuit of runs. Ben Coad removed Jimmy Adams and Joe Weatherly but Kyle Carver’s slow left-arm was savaged. When the pundits stopped talking about Vince, they agreed Yorkshire’s batsmen would need to mount one of their great run-chases if they were to chase down 349.As it turned out, though, the second half of this non-contest was the sort of anti-climax typical of one-sided limited-overs games. Chris Wood had Lyth leg before in the fourth over of the innings, although there were suggestions the ball was going over the top; Dale Steyn, who immediately bowled with more pace and purpose than anyone else, had Cheteshwar Pujara caught at slip off the shoulder of the bat for nought. Four of Yorkshire’s middle-order made twenties while Tattersall learned something about first-team cricket. Liam Dawson picked up two early wickets and two more in his final over to finish with 4 for 47. Wood took the last wicket when he had Coad caught at mid-off by Vince.Now a November evening, rain scudding against the windows. A night for the hearth. One thinks of the cricket season which ended a couple of months ago. It takes a moment to recall who won the major honours. But one image is stored safely and summoned without effort. It captures a batsman playing a square drive, the ball passing a few yards to the right of a motionless backward point. Just for that moment, one believes the gentle lie that art is simple ease.

South Africa women are currently ranked sixth in the ICC Team Rankings but they put their underperformance down to not having their best players available for all of those matches, either through injury or suspension

Firdose Moonda17-Feb-2017The South African management is eyeing a semi-final finish or better for their women’s team, who qualified for the World Cup with victory over Sri Lanka on Friday. South Africa missed out on automatic entry into the tournament after finishing outside the top four in the ICC Women’s Championship but secured their spots through the qualifier, with a game to play, and are getting stronger as the showpiece event looms.”We have the players to be in the top four. It is just about being consistent as a team and as individual players,” Vincent Barnes, CSA High Performance Manager, who works with the men’s, women’s, A side and age-group teams told ESPNcricinfo. “If you look at teams like Australia or England, they have three or four match-winners in their side and those players will perform in three or four out of every five games. We need to develop that as well.”South Africa are currently ranked sixth in the ICC Team Rankings and lost recent series against New Zealand and Australia, which did not allow them to proceed straight to the World Cup. But they put their underperformance down to not having their best players available for all of those matches, either through injury or suspension. Pace spearhead Shabnim Ismail and wicket-keeper batsman Trisha Chetty were left out for disciplinary breaches – for which they underwent counseling – while Ayabonga Khaka and Laura Wolvaardt missed parts of the two series with niggles. Having all four back has made a big difference. “We’ve been able to put our best squad out there and we can see how well they have combined,” Barnes said.While Ismail and Chetty are experienced players whose quality is well-known, Khaka and Wolvaardt have made particularly crucial impressions now – Khaka for her aggressive bowling and 17-year-old Wolvaardt, who is the head girl at her school, for her composure opening the batting. But there have also been strategic changes to the way South Africa play. Lizelle Lee and Sune Luus have been moved up the order and Mignon du Preez handed the captaincy over to Dane van Niekerk, which has allowed both of them to blossom.”Captaincy is still new to Dane but she is extremely knowledgable about the game. Dane is very focused, very hard on herself,” Barnes said. “And it has allowed Mignon to concentrate on her batting because we always thought she could offer a bit more.”Since October, when du Preez effectively stood down, she has scored four half-centuries in 20 ODI innings. In the same time period, van Niekerk’s has soared – she has been batting an average of 49.90 as captain, compared to 32.75 overall and has contributed with the ball. Doubtless, van Niekerk’s experience at the Women’s BBL has also had some effect on her performances and Barnes hopes more South African players will get opportunities in overseas leagues. “We want them to experience competitive environments because it really does wonders for them.”As women’s cricket continues to grow and offer players more commercial opportunities, Cricket South Africa are doing what they can to keep up. Two years ago, they upped their contracts for female cricketers from six to 14 players and they have also moved women’s cricket to the high performance division. That means the players have specialised camps at one of the world’s best facilities at the University of Pretoria and there is also a women’s academy intake who are trained there. The aim is to ensure there is a steady pipeline of quality women’s players, who can join and ultimately take over from the current crop.”What happens is that when the women graduate to international cricket, there is a big step up from domestic game, that gap is widening all the time. At the high performance centre, our job is to close that gap,” Barnes said. “It’s similar to the structure of international teams – you have a strong top eight and then the rest.”That top eight will compete at the World Cup, for which South Africa have one more series in preparation. They will host India, Ireland and Zimbabwe for a quadrangular rubber in Potchefstroom in May before traveling to the UK 10 days before the World Cup starts.

Hong Kong’s hopes of qualifying for the main round of the Asia Cup T20 were extinguished by Mohammad Shahzad as UAE beat them by six wickets to register their second successive win in Fatullah

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Amjad Javed sealed the game with a straight six as UAE took a giant leap towards the main round of the Asia Cup T20•AFP

Hong Kong’s hopes of qualifying for the main round of the Asia Cup T20 were extinguished by Mohammad Shahzad as UAE beat them by six wickets to move to the top of the points table with one game to play.If it was Rohan Mustafa who led the way in their tournament opener against Afghanistan, Shahzad put his hand up to make a 39-ball 52 in the chase of 147 as UAE crossed the line with nine balls to spare. In doing so, they also ensured their net run rate received a boost, a factor that could decide the qualifier if teams are tied on points.Hong Kong were struggling at 26 for 2 after they opted to bat. It took the belligerence of the in-form Babar Hayat to give them the momentum, even as Mark Chapman’s aggression fetched 29 runs off just 17 balls. Hayat, who made 122 in a losing cause in Hong Kong’s opener, hit eight fours in his 45-ball 54, before being dismissed in the 16th over. That allowed UAE to apply the choke as they conceded just 24 off the last five overs, with Mohammad Naveed, the pacer, finishing with figures of 3 for 14.With perhaps lesser runs than they would have liked, Hong Kong prised out the wickets of Mustafa and Muhammad Kaleem to leave UAE at 22 for 2. Shahzad, who came in to bat at No. 3, arrested the wobble and helped UAE steer ahead of the asking rate during the course of a third-wicket stand of 79 with Muhammad Usman (41). Shahzad took the game right till the end in Shaiman Anwar’s company, before Amjad Javed, the captain, sealed the deal with a straight six.Having come up with two dominating displays, UAE have a straightforward equation. A win against Oman will see them through to the main round, while a loss that coincides with an Afghanistan win over Hong Kong could force a three-way tie in terms of points.

Jason Holder, the West Indies fast bowler, has few batting credentials to brag about, but was confident he could hit the 15 runs needed off the final over

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-2013Jason Holder, the West Indies fast bowler, has few batting credentials to brag about, but was confident he could hit the 15 runs needed off the final over to win the third ODI against Pakistan. The No. 11 Holder managed to crack 14 to miraculously tie a game which West Indies seemed destined to lose, when they needed 39 off the final three overs with only two wickets remaining.Holder powered a four over cover and a six over extra cover off Wahab Riaz in the final over before scampering two off the last delivery to level the scores. “I know my hitting area and I knew exactly the area I was targeting. I kept looking at the field and I knew the bowler would offer width on the off-stump,” Holder said. “With my reach I knew I could make good contact and I backed myself to win the game. Coming close to the end I was focused on getting the runs.”Kemar Roach, who was involved in a similarly tense finish against India three weeks ago, was on the non-striker’s end in the final over. Though the more experienced Roach faced only one ball in the final over, Holder said Roach’s role was crucial.”I have to give a lot of credit to Kemar,” Holder said. “He had a lot of faith in me and he told me ‘you can do it!’… we both believed and in the end it was quite good to get the runs and at least come away with a tie.”Before Holder’s heroics in the final over, Lendl Simmons had shepherded the chase with his 75, but was dismissed in the 46th over with West Indies still some way away from victory. “I’m a bit disappointed that I was not able to carry on and win it for the team,” Simmons said. “I was playing really well, but got out at a crucial stage in the run chase.”Sunil Narine then gave West Indies an outside chance by lashing 14 off five deliveries off Saeed Ajmal in the 48th over. Ajmal had proven miserly before the over, with figures of 9-1-21-2, but the boundaries from Narine kept West Indies in the game.”Credit to Sunil and Jason for the way they played in a pressure situation,” Simmons said. “They are two of the younger members of the team and they really held their nerve … their batting was superb. At one stage it looked like we could not reach the target but they played the big shots, under pressure, and pulled off a great tie in the end.”The crowd at Beausejour Stadium was delighted with the result, but Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore could be seen fuming in the Pakistan dressing room. Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was also unhappy at letting the match slip after having been on top for much of the game. “It’s really disappointing, we were in a really good position but the way Holder played, he took the game away from us,” Misbah said. “We bowled too many full deliveries to the tailender … but hats off to them, they played really well.”

Tim Southee has been added to New Zealand’s Test squad for the ongoing tour of the West Indies as a replacement for Mark Gillespie, who was ruled out last week due to an ankle injury

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2012Tim Southee has been added to New Zealand’s Test squad for the ongoing tour of the West Indies as a replacement for Mark Gillespie, who was ruled out last week due to an ankle injury. New Zealand did not confirm at the time who would take Gillespie’s place but Southee, who has played 17 Tests and was already in the Caribbean for the ODIs, appeared the logical answer.”Tim has impressed with the way he bowled in the one-day series so far and we have seen an improvement from where he was at the end of the home summer,” Kim Littlejohn, the national selection manager, said. “He’s a like-for-like replacement for Mark in terms of the type of bowler he is and his ability to unsettle the opposition batsmen with pace and bounce.”The loss of Gillespie was a blow for New Zealand after he was their leading wicket taker in the Test series against South Africa earlier this year. The two-Test series begins in Antigua on July 25 and finishes in Jamaica in the first week of August.

Cricinfo previews the first ODI of Sri Lanka’s tour of England

The Preview by Andrew Miller27-Jun-2011

Match facts

Tuesday, June 28, The Oval

Start time 1300 (1200 GMT)

Big Picture

Alastair Cook has a tough challenge lying ahead of him•Getty Images

This time last week, Andrew Strauss was England’s man at the helm. On Saturday, for a perfunctory 37.2 overs, Stuart Broad took over as national captain, and at 12.30pm tomorrow afternoon, Alastair Cook will line up at the toss as England’s third skipper in eight days. The policy of separate leaders for all three formats always looked like a bit of a gamble, but right at this moment, following the most anticlimactic coronation imaginable for Broad at Bristol, there’s an additional layer of scrutiny pending.On the bright side for Cook, his first game as full-time ODI captain is unlikely to go quite as badly as Strauss’s last in the role, in Colombo three months ago. England’s ten-wicket drubbing in that fixture was inflicted by Upul Tharanga, who is currently serving a suspension for the use of a prohibited substance, and Tillakaratne Dilshan who, although passed fit, is still feeling the effects of his broken thumb. Nevertheless, there was a yawning gulf in class on display at Bristol. In the 50-over format, England have four years in which to get their act together ahead of the 2015 World Cup. Few people are expecting them to pull it off at the first time of asking.There will be other factors at play at The Oval. After a handy cameo with the ball, if not the bat, at Bristol, Sanath Jayasuriya is preparing to sign off from international cricket at the ground where, in 1998, his blazing double-century set the stage for Muttiah Muralitharan’s 16-wicket masterclass in the one-off Test against England. The circumstances of his recall have been controversial, even though with Dilshan missing for a week his experience has not been unwelcome. Meanwhile off the pitch, Stuart Law has confirmed he will be moving on to become coach of Bangladesh. Distractions abound for Sri Lanka, but they are pretty accustomed to such things.But the major focus will be on a left-handed opener with a somewhat different reputation in short-form cricket. The success of the three-captain policy requires each of the leaders to display personal form while producing the victories expected of them. So far this summer, Strauss has won a Test series without scoring runs, while Broad has been hammered in his solitary outing without showing much evidence of a return to his best. Cook, meanwhile, has been scoring runs for fun in Test cricket, but struggled to raise his game in an ODI scenario at Lord’s last month, where he was stumped for the first time in his first-class career. He will know, better than anyone, how much he has to prove.

Form guide (most recent first)

England LWLWL

Sri Lanka LWWWW

The spotlight

Where else to look but Alastair Cook? Stuart Broad may have had a tough time on his captaincy debut at Bristol on Saturday, but at least his value as a limited-overs performer has rarely been called into question. Cook, on the other hand, wasn’t deemed worthy of a place in England’s 30-man squad for the World Cup earlier this year, and yet has now been parachuted back straight back into the set-up as skipper. In his defence he performed admirably in a stand-in capacity in Bangladesh last year, but the doubts about his suitability have been voiced already, with the former England captain Mike Atherton denouncing him as a “plodder” on Sunday morning. “Takes one to know one,” was Cook’s wry reply.Lasith Malinga’s four overs at Bristol were as perfect as one could hope to witness in Twenty20 cricket. His first Powerplay over cost just three runs, his second accounted for the vital wicket of Eoin Morgan, his third leaked five singles as England tried and failed to up the tempo, and his last resulted in two wickets, three scrambled byes and not a single run off the bat. His absence from the Test series was understandable given the nature of his role and the workload required in five-day games, but this was a hint as to what exactly Sri Lanka had missed.

Team news

Andrew Strauss’s ODI retirement means there will be no change more notable than the one at the top of the order, where Cook will be reunited with his opening partner from last year’s tour of Bangladesh, Craig Kieswetter. Of the two rookies who opened the bowling in the Twenty20, Chris Woakes seems the likelier to make way for the returning James Anderson, which means Jade Dernbach should make his ODI debut on his home ground. Tim Bresnan’s late inclusion in the squad could squeeze Samit Patel out of the starting XI, despite his five-wicket haul on this ground against South Africa in 2008.England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Samit Patel/Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.Sri Lanka had good news late on Monday when Tillakaratne Dilshan was passed fit after his broken thumb and he’ll open with Sanath Jayasuriya, meaning Mahela Jayawardene reverts to his middle-order role. Angelo Mathews is still doubtful to bowl and Dilshan may not be risked with the ball, either.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga,

Pitch and conditions

London’s dank June has given way to a mini-heatwave in the two days leading up to the start of the match, although that is all set to end with thunderstorms forecast for Monday evening. The wet weather should have cleared sufficiently to allow a prompt start at 1pm, but the clouds may still be lingering.

Stats and trivia

• England and Sri Lanka’s last meeting in 50-overs cricket was the World Cup quarter-final in Colombo back in March, which – thanks to their ten-wicket trouncing – also happens to have been England’s most recent ODI.
• Inauspiciously for England, their home record against Sri Lanka is scarcely any better in recent times. In 2006 they were thumped out of sight, five matches out of five, with Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga racking up an opening stand of 286 at Headingley. Only two England squad members remain from that game – the new captain Cook, and the returning Tim Bresnan.
• Alastair Cook averages 33.00 in 26 ODI appearances, with a solitary century against India in 2007, and a strike-rate of 71.38.
  

  Quotes

  “I just see myself as the one-day captain. I’m just concentrating on tomorrow’s game and doing the best job I can. We can worry about the other stuff later.”
  
  Alastair Cook presents a straight bat to questions about his Test captaincy ambitions.”Sanath won’t be staying on for the rest of the series. He has already decided to retire after the first one-day. That’s his call and we can’t help it.”
  Thilina Kandamby prepares to say farewell to Sanath Jayasuriya.

Sussex and Worcestershire remain Glamorgan’s closest challengers at the top of Division Two of the County Championship after their match at Hove fizzled out to a draw

27-May-2010
ScorecardSussex and Worcestershire remain Glamorgan’s closest challengers at the top of Division Two of the County Championship after their match at Hove fizzled out to a draw. No play was possible before lunch because of rain which meant a total of 65 overs were lost on the final two days. Worcestershire were not prepared to declare and set their second-placed rivals a target with the pitch still playing easily and a temptingly short off-side boundary on offer.The visitors, who began the final day on 76 for 2, a lead of 212, batted through to finish on 205 for 6. The lead was worth 339 when the players shook hands at 4.50pm. Worcestershire dropped to fourth place as a result of Gloucestershire’s win over Derbyshire while Sussex, favourites to go straight back up at the start of the season, are now 16 points adrift of Glamorgan.At least Sussex stopped the rot after successive championship defeats had enabled Glamorgan to knock them off the summit. In addition, they might have discovered a useful back-up seamer in opening batsman Michael Thornely, who claimed his first two first-class wickets in a seven-over spell either side of tea.The 22-year-old, who had only previously bowled four overs in first-class cricket, struck with his 15th ball when Moeen Ali drove to short midwicket. Moeen had added 60 in 17 overs with skipper Vikram Solanki after the early loss of nightwatchman Richard Jones, who was superbly caught in his follow through by Corey Collymore.Solanki was enjoying what had become nothing more than an extended net as he passed 50 for only the third time in 13 Championship innings. But on 61 he pushed forward to Thornely and was surprised to see his off stump knocked out of the ground. He hit five fours and three sixes, all over the short boundary on the scoreboard side, in a 124-ball stay.The only other wicket to fall came when Alexei Kervezee top-edged a sweep off Monty Panesar and Robin Martin-Jenkins took a comfortable catch at backward point. Martin-Jenkins was playing his last championship game at Hove after announcing that he will retire from the game on July 19 after 15 years with the county to take up a teaching job at Hurstpierpoint College. The veteran, fittingly, led the players off to a standing ovation at the end.

Dottin led the fight for West Indies with a rapid fifty, but her team still fell 49 runs short

Sruthi Ravindranath15-Dec-2024An aggressive 81-run stand between Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana combined with some excellent catching gave India a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against West Indies.Deandra Dottin led the fight in the 196 chase with a 28-ball 52 along with Qiana Joseph, but in the end West Indies fell 49 short with young medium-pacer Titas Sadhu taking three crucial wickets for India.Mandhana’s new opening partnerWith Shafali Verma dropped, Mandhana had a new opening partner in Uma Chetry, who was playing her fifth T20I. West Indies introduced spin as early as the second over after opting to bowl first, bringing in left-arm spinner Zaida James to bowl to Mandhana. Thirteen runs came off it, with Mandhana pulling her for a four first ball and Chetry punishing her with back-to-back boundaries through the covers. Hayley Matthews brought herself on in the fourth over to bowl against the left-handed Mandhana but she was instead taken for two consecutive fours off the first two balls. Mandhana found her flow, making more than half of the runs in the openers’ 50-run stand at the end of the powerplay.Despite getting a life on 14, having been dropped in the slips, Chetry couldn’t capitalise on it, struggling to score in the legside and slowing down against offspinner Karishma Ramharack. She was eventually bowled trying to flick Ramharack for a 26-ball 24.Rodrigues on fireThe wicket, however, ended up being a positive for India, with Rodrigues joining Mandhana in the middle. Rodrigues stuck to her strengths, sweeping and reverse-sweeping the ball well from the get-go for her boundaries. Mandhana, meanwhile, went on the back foot to put the spinners away and was scoring boundaries at regular intervals as well, as the duo went hard at the balls that were pitched up. Together they took on Matthews for 19 runs in the 13th over. Their partnership just crossed 80 when Ramharack came back to dismiss Mandhana for 54.Richa Ghosh, coming in at No. 4, made sure India did not slow down, hitting two fours and six off the first seven balls she faced. But she did not last long, with Dottin having her caught at deep midwicket. Rodrigues, however, continued to pile on the runs, bringing her fifty off just 28 balls. She hit boundaries all around the ground and also ran quickly between the wickets without tiring. She was run out in the last over for 73 off 35 balls but not before giving India a massive total.Minnu Mani, super subWith Harmanpreet Kaur not taking the field for the chase, Mandhana took over captaincy duties and Minnu Mani filled in as a sub. Mani made sure to make the most of her chance by taking excellent catches both in the infield and outfield on a foggy evening in Navi Mumbai. In the second over, when Sadhu had Matthews top edge a pull, Mani ran back diagonally from mid-on, dived and caught the ball that came down from a height with stretched hands. She took another one near long-on when Chinelle Henry miscued Radha Yadav straight up in the air.The dangerous Dottin was dropped first by Rodrigues and then by Mandhana, she eventually ended up smashing it into the hands of Radha, who moved left from long-on to take the catch. While India’s catching under the lights has previously been a subject of scrutiny, they did the job quite neatly on the day.Dangerous Dottin, cool SadhuSadhu made her comeback after an injury layoff in the Australia ODIs earlier this month but that did not go well. But on Sunday, with plenty of dew around, she kept mixing up her lines and lengths, managing to get three crucial wickets. While an excellent catch by Mani accounted for Matthews, she caught Qiana Joseph by surprise by shortening her length right after being smacked for a six. Joseph ended up hitting the ball towards mid-off for a simple catch and departed for a 33-ball 49.But with Dottin going strong, West Indies still had a chance to turn the game around. Dottin was at her usual best – she got off the mark with an 80m hit over deep midwicket and single-handedly kept the scoring rate up despite little help from the other end. After being dropped the first time on 40, she went on to smash a six and a four to get to her half-century off just 26 balls. But she could not capitalise on her second life after being dropped on 52, getting out the next ball to Sadhu. That was pretty much the game for West Indies, who at that point needed 70 off 31 balls.

A prominent figure in the franchise leagues around the world, Hasaranga played just four Tests, picking up four wickets

Andrew Fidel Fernando15-Aug-2023Sri Lanka allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga has retired from Test cricket at age 26. He is understood to have made this decision in order to be more available for franchise cricket tournaments.Hasaranga has not been a regular member of Sri Lanka’s Test squad over the last two years, but has played four Tests. He had largely failed to impress with the ball in those matches, taking four wickets at an average of 100.75, though he did hit a half-century in South Africa.In any case, Hasaranga had recently been included in some wider training groups ahead of Test series, and then not picked for the Test squad itself. His involvement in training in Sri Lanka had prevented him from taking up franchise cricket offers. He had, for example pulled out of Major League Cricket in the weeks before the tournament was to commence.Although according to the Sri Lanka Cricket release, the reason Hasaranga retires from Tests is in order “to prolong his career as a limited-overs specialist”, Hasaranga has no history with long-term injury.Unlike with, say, Thisara Perera, who had also attempted to retire from Test cricket in his 20s, but had been told to hold off by Sri Lanka Cricket, Hasaranga’s discussions with SLC are believed to have been cordial. Essentially, the board no longer sees him as a potential Test player, and is happy for him to pursue other opportunities so long as he remains available for Sri Lanka’s white-ball games.”We will accept his decision and are confident that Hasaranga will be a vital part of our white-ball program going forward,” Ashley De Silva, CEO of SLC, said.Overall, Hasaranga played 44 first-class games, picking up 102 wickets. He also has three first-class centuries and 19 half-centuries.Hasaranga has so far represented Sri Lanka in 48 ODIs and 58 T20Is and is an key member in the limited-overs setup.Hasaranga is currently captaining his Lanka Premier League side B-Love Kandy, and will be part of Sri Lanka’s forthcoming Asia Cup and World Cup campaigns.

Allrounder could be out for six weeks but expected to be fit to play in the Hundred

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2022Kieron Pollard has been ruled out of the rest of the T20 Blast but is expected to be fit in time to play in the Hundred after knee surgery.Pollard, 35, was a marquee signing for Surrey as one of their two overseas players alongside his compatriot and close friend Sunil Narine, but suffered a knee injury early in their T20 season.”Despite treatment, he has failed to improve significantly and therefore a decision was taken to gain a surgical opinion,” Surrey said in a statement. “He has undergone successful surgery this [Tuesday] morning which will keep him out of action for the next four to six weeks whilst he rehabilitates.”Surrey have already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Blast with four group-stage games remaining, with nine wins and a no-result from their first ten fixtures. Pollard made 99 runs in his five innings, with a strike rate of 141.42, and took one wicket and one catch.”This is hugely frustrating as we have been a dominant force and I felt I was part of something special,” Pollard said. “But I wish the lads all the best for the rest of the campaign whilst I get myself fit and firing again.”Pollard, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, was a £125,000 signing by London Spirit in the Hundred draft and is expected to return in time to play for them when the tournament starts in early August.