Live blog – Ranji Trophy, 1st round, 3rd day
ESPNcricinfo’s live blog of the first round of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season
Shashank Kishore03-Nov-2018
ESPNcricinfo’s live blog of the first round of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season
Shashank Kishore03-Nov-2018
Sporting declarations from George Bailey and Peter Nevill set up the game after most of day three was lost to rain
Alex Malcolm08-Nov-2018Nathan Lyon gets ready for play•Getty Images
Tasmania survived a stunning final-day spell from Nathan Lyon to secure a draw against New South Wales in fading light at the SCG. Tigers batsman Beau Webster held firm, scoring 80 not out from 211 balls to deny the Blues victory after Lyon claimed four wickets late in the day.The two captains George Bailey and Peter Nevill set up the thrilling finish by declaring the second and third innings of the match early on the final day, after most of day three was lost to rain.Tasmania declared their first innings on their overnight score of 4 for 115 before New South Wales batted just four overs in their second innings – declaring on 1 for 22 – to set a target of 350 with more than 100 overs to get them.The chase started superbly, reaching 1 for 145 in the 59th over, with Alex Doolan and Webster putting on 79 for the second wicket. Doolan continued his sublime form, making 90 before he was caught at cover off the bowling of Steve O’Keefe.Tasmania’s chase stalled and a draw appeared likely, but Lyon turned the match as only he can. He had Jake Doran caught and bowled before Bailey was bowled, deceived by flight and drop from around the wicket.Matthew Wade was pinned LBW by Sean Abbott and Test captain Tim Paine was bowled between his legs by Lyon from around the wicket to put a scare through the Tigers camp.The match got really tense two overs later when Lyon found the outside edge of Tom Rogers bat with a fizzing offbreak to leave the Blues just three wickets from victory.But Webster and Jackson Bird survived 11.1 overs as the ground was enveloped in shadows and Lyon bowled with all nine fielders around the bat. The match was called a draw in Lyon’s 35th over.
ESPNcricnfo understands that one reason for this could be because the probe panel has not yet sent the transcripts to everyone who deposed before it in the past week
Nagraj Gollapudi15-Nov-2018The inquiry committee probing allegations of sexual harrassment against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri has sought more time to finish its investigation. The inquiry committee was originally given a fortnight to complete its probe by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), with the deadline ending today.However, the inquiry committee – comprising Rakesh Sharma (retired judge of Allahabad High Court), Barkha Singh (former chairperson of the Delhi Women’s Commission) and Veena Gowda (women’s rights lawyer) – wrote to the CoA on Thurday seeking more time, saying it would finish the probe at the earliest. The CoA has approved the request with no specific deadline.ESPNcricnfo understands that one reason the committee has sought more time could be because it has not yet sent the transcripts to everyone who deposed before it in the past week. It is understood that those who have not yet received the transcripts include the two women complainants, both of whom reside overseas. Both women, who are not with BCCI, testified over Skype in the last week.The others that testified include former Mumbai captain Shishir Hattangadi, CoA members Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, and whistleblower Aditya Verma and his legal counsel Sanjeev Mishra. Johri was the last person to be face the inquiry committee and his deposition stretched to two days.Once it finalises the transcripts, the three-person inquiry committee will evaluate the depositions and all evidence put in front of it before arriving at a conclusion. It is understood the CoA will ask Johri to resign if the verdict of the inquiry committee is unanimous or a majority one, with no confirmation over how the dissenting view will be managed.Johri was appointed as BCCI’s first CEO in June 2016 with his contract lasting until May 2021. In case Johri is found guilty by the inquiry committee and is asked to resign, the BCCI will appoint an interim CEO. A new CEO will only be appointed once the BCCI elects its fresh general body and apex council post elections.
Bracewell and Kuggeleijn bashed 44 off 26 and 35 not out off 15 respectively before Ferguson’s three-for dented Sri Lanka’s chase
The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Jan-2019Twice New Zealand fought back, fearlessly punching their way out of trouble. In their own innings, they had surrendered four wickets in the first four overs, and had slipped to 55 for 5, before Ross Taylor arrested the nosedive with a calm 33, and Doug Bracewell and debutant Scott Kuggeleijn – both in the team primarily for their bowling – bashed 44 off 26 and 35 not out off 15 respectively, hitting nine sixes between them, to hoist New Zealand to a competitive 179 for 7.
Readers from the US can also watch the match LIVE here, on ESPN+
Then, with the ball, Sri Lanka had been coasting at 118 for 4, before a searing double-wicket over from Lockie Ferguson precipitated a dramatic collapse. Six wickets fell for 26 runs, Sri Lanka’s lower order incapable of the kinds of heroics New Zealand’s had earlier produced, as they faltered against the spinners, Ish Sodhi in particular.The 35-run defeat means Sri Lanka leave their five-and-a-half week tour of New Zealand winless, their only half-decent result being the drawn Test in Wellington. They were completely blown away in the limited-overs series. Despite dominating this T20I for much of its duration, they allowed a spirited opposition to make definitive advances at the back end of each innings, which wiped out all the good work Sri Lanka had earlier done.It was Ferguson’s third over – the 13th of the innings – that was the most eye-catching. The two wicket-balls were glorious. The first was a 126 kph slower one, pitched back of a length, which Sri Lanka’s best batsman of the limited-overs series – Thisara Perera – swung at too early, and wound up only hitting as far as long-on, where Bracewell took a comfortable catch. Four balls later: perhaps the delivery of the match, a 147kph angled yorker that tailed a touch, and snuck between Dhananjaya de Silva’s bat and pad to rattle the stumps.Sodhi and Mitchell Santner – playing his first international match since March – then took the opposition lower order by the collar. Sodhi trapped Sri Lanka’s last recognised batsman Dasun Shanaka in front of the stumps with a beautifully flighted legbreak, the on-field not-out decision overturned upon review. Next over, Lasith Malinga swiped at a Santner delivery, and sent a top edge into the legside that was happily gobbled up by Martin Guptill.The required rate having risen again, Sri Lanka’s tail kept swinging hard, as Sodhi wiped out the last couple of wickets in his final over to finish with figures of 3 for 30. Fittingly, Ferguson finished with the best analysis in the game, his three overs yielding 3 for 21.That New Zealand had anywhere near as much to bowl at, however, was down to Bracewell’s outstanding hitting from No. 7. Having arrived the run rate flagging at less than six, and with half the team already out after ten overs, Bracewell was circumspect early, making only 3 off his first seven deliveries, before he began to bludgeon balls into the stands. He ran at Lakshan Sandan to sock him over long-on, lifted Lahiru Kumara over fine leg next over, but saved his most brutal hitting for the 17th over, bowled by Thisara. He hit two successive straight sixes, another one over fine leg, and finished with a four through square leg, as New Zealand reaped 23 from those six balls.Bracewell soon holed out, mis-hitting a Kasun Rajitha slower ball down the ground, for Dhananjaya de Silva to sprint around from long off to complete an excellent diving catch in front of the sightscreen. Kuggeleijn, though, continued the assault in an even more frenzied fashion than Bracewell. He whacked Rajitha over the short straight boundary and then over square leg off successive balls, then hit another six off the final ball of the innings, depositing Rajitha over long-on that time.Sri Lanka’s bowling attack was poor at the death, serving up predictable, hittable lengths to the tail – Malinga the only bowler to avoid punishment, conceding only six runs from the 19th over.Rajitha and Malinga had been excellent with the new ball, however, finding a little movement off the seam to induce a series of leading edges from the New Zealand top order. They will wonder how they let it slip from such an outstanding position.
Captain hints that changes may have to be made to team’s positive approach after embarrassing collapse
Andrew Miller02-Feb-2019Joe Root has warned his batsman that they must take personal responsibility for their failures in the Caribbean, after England collapsed in ignominious fashion once again in Antigua to hand West Indies a ten-wicket victory, and an unassailable 2-0 series lead, with two days to spare in the second Test.Root himself cannot be excused from such self-reflection, having made just 40 runs in four innings to date – albeit with some notable moments of misfortune, in particular the good-length snorter with which Alzarri Joseph dismissed him on the first day in Antigua.But, speaking at the end of a chastening day, he admitted that his team might be forced to “go about things slightly differently in the future”, after the policy of positive intent in adversity that had proved so successful in Sri Lanka before Christmas came unstuck in spectacular fashion against a committed, varied and aggressive four-man pace attack.”It’s very disappointing,” Root said. “We came here to win and to find ourselves out of it with a game to go is hard to take. We have been outplayed, outperformed and we have to take that on the chin.”England’s downfall was all the more damning given the manner in which West Indies grafted in their first – and only significant – innings. With Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo epitomising their determination – Bravo’s 215-ball half century was the slowest ever made by a West Indian in Test history – they ground out a priceless lead of 119 on a pitch that proved tricky for players on both sides, but on which England’s expansive strokeplayers had no answer.”We have to learn some lessons,” said Root. “The way they went about stuff in certain areas has been very skilled, especially how they batted yesterday against some very high skilled bowling. That was frustrating. We felt unlucky. It’s not an excuse, they managed to find a way to a good score on that surface.Asked if any players in England’s line-up would be capable of emulating Bravo’s sheet-anchor application, Root said: “I think a number of guys can, I’d like to think I can. I felt unfortunate not to make a big contribution and when experienced players aren’t making scores over fifty, it makes it very difficult for the rest of the guys around them.”With the match finishing two days early, it seems highly likely that England will be sent back to the nets in the coming days, with the influence of the head coach Trevor Bayliss and batting coach Mark Ramprakash sure to come under further scrutiny ahead of Saturday’s third Test in St Lucia. Having harboured ambitions of using this tour to enhance their claims to the Test No.1 status, England will enter that match facing the very real possibility of a 3-0 series defeat that would have echoes of the famous “Blackwash” series of the mid-1980s.”I think we have got to be better at what we do, or maybe do things slightly differently,” said Root. “The choice comes down to the individual. I can’t bat for 11 guys, neither can Trevor or Ramps. The responsibility is down to the individual. But we will stick together and work on it as a group and try and come back with a really strong response in St Lucia.”After being rolled aside for 77 in the first innings of the series in Barbados, England’s batting was arguably even more feeble on the third afternoon in Antigua, as they lost all ten wickets for 97 runs in the space of 30 overs – four bowled and three lbw, as West Indies’ quicks concentrated on line and length and waited for the errors to come.”There were a couple of disappointing dismissals that guys will have to look at individually,” said Root. “But on a surface like that you have to commit to whatever decision you make. As a side they tried to absorb pressure but, when they went to hit boundaries, they gave it everything. Having that balance is important.”I think they played better than us, exploited the surfaces and we haven’t scored enough runs. It’s very easy to sum us up and say we’re a bad side after two games, having played so well for a period. We have to make sure we respond quickly and finish this tour on a high.”
Challenger responds to comments about his previous record as West Indies team manager
George Dobell26-Feb-2019The “insensitivity and stubbornness” of CWI president Dave Cameron have created a poor relationship with West Indies’ players and coaches, according to Ricky Skerritt, who is running against Cameron in the forthcoming CWI elections.Skerritt, a former cabinet minister for St Kitts and Nevis, also suggested that “relationships with facts and truth apparently mean little to Cameron” and claimed his tenure as president had caused “significant damage” to the board in both financial and reputational terms.Skerrit was responding to comments made by Cameron, which referred to Skerrit’s four-year spell as West Indies team manager in the early 2000s as “that period of turmoil”.”While I was team manager there was zero industrial unrest by players,” Skerritt said. “This period was a time when we were still winning more matches than we lost and players were still respected by the CWI leadership. Instead of making such unfounded and petty attacks on me I recommend that Mr Cameron hold audience with former players and ask about their experiences and existing relationships with me. But relationships with facts and truth apparently mean little to Cameron.”If Cameron wants to talk about turmoil, perhaps he can explain why former head coaches, Ottis Gibson, Phil Simmons, and the several others who Cameron hastily and summarily dismissed, from both the men’s and women’s teams, have collectively cost CWI well over US $1m.”In 2014, West Indies abandoned a tour of India in a dispute over pay. Two years later, Darren Sammy, West Indies captain at the time, publically questioned the board’s policies in the aftermath of winning the 2016 World T20 in India.”These tumultuous instances have caused significant damage to the CWI reputation, commercial health, and team performance,” Skerritt said. “Cameron really should not allow the subject of ‘turmoil’ to become the feature of this campaign. Cameron’s pettiness and negativity will not distract us from our forward-looking election campaign.”Cameron declined ESPNcricinfo’s request for comment. Following the announcement of Skerritt’s candidacy last week, Cameron had questioned his record managing the team between 2000 and 2004.”Ricky has always mentioned how passionate he is about West Indies cricket,” Cameron told . “What most of us remember Ricky for is that period when he was manager of the team, the turmoil that occurred. I’m hoping that we’ll never get back to those days.”Skerritt is running alongside Dr Kishore Shallow, the president of the St Vincent & The Grenadines Cricket Association, who is standing for the position of vice-president.The CWI elections take place in Jamaica on March 24. A total of 12 votes, two each for six member territories, are at stake. At present, Windward Islands, Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados all appear to favour Cameron and his vice-president, Emmanuel Nanthan, while Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago appear to favour Skerritt and Shallow.
Somerset were rolled over for 171, with Mitch Claydon taking 5 for 46, before Kent’s openers established a solid footing
Paul Edwards at Taunton06-Apr-2019Kent will be relegated this season. More or less all the pundits say so. The snag is that a year ago those same Jeremiahs were saying the county wouldn’t get within the length of Deal Pier of being promoted and Matt Walker, Kent’s coach, encouraged his players to surprise both their critics and themselves. So there was a pleasing continuity about the visitors’ fine performance this hazy Saturday at Taunton.Their seamers made up for the absence of Matt Henry to dismiss Somerset for 171 and their opening batsmen, Zak Crawley and Sean Dickson, showed fine judgement to put on 71 before Crawley was taken at second slip by Marcus Trescothick off Craig Overton for 39. Nightwatchman Harry Podmore fell to Josh Davey two overs before the close but these rewards were thin gruel when set beside the five wickets earned by Mitch Claydon and the three taken by the Kent debutant, Matt Milnes.In the morning, Dickson and Matt Renshaw will resume their innings and the deficit is only 86. Yes, it is only one day at the beginning of a long season but Heino Kuhn’s players could not have done more to embolden their supporters.But pleasure was not confined to cricket lovers from Whitstable and Sevenoaks early on this second day; it was shared by all who walked up James St and watched low grey cloud lift from Wellsprings and Pyrland before the Quantocks emerged in gentle sunlight. This was better than Friday, when bright skies on the treeline had soon given way to rain’s thick gauze with the covers on by 9.20am. And even that damp gloom had encouraged vernation around town: “Spring, of all seasons most gratuitous / Is fold of untaught flower, is race of water, / Is earth’s most multiple excited daughter;” wrote Philip Larkin.But to the disappointment of those expecting a prompt start, wet patches at the River End delayed play until 1.10pm. Some of those areas were on a part of the outfield occupied by a walkway needed for the erection of the new floodlights in the winter and the boundary rope had to be brought in before cricket could begin.The hold-up was a particular frustration for the NHS staff to whom Somerset had generously given free admission for today’s play. Perhaps, some thought, the umpires had decided to make the hard-working medics feel at home by ensuring there was a four-hour waiting time before the main business of the day got under way. Viewed in that context, a delay of only 130 minutes was spit-spot, as Mary Poppins, another healthcare professional, might have put it.But the sight of Darren Stevens bowling the eighth ball of the Championship season to Trescothick rather deprived matters of their juvenescent gloss. It is difficult to ponder the eternal youth of springtime cricket when the combined age of the participants is 85.As it turned out neither Trescothick nor Stevens was to make an important contribution to proceedings. The veteran opener had made only 10 when he lost his off stump to Harry Podmore in the ninth over of the innings and any doctors sitting in the batsman’s eponymously named stand may have had to look slippy with the defibrillators at this reverse. As for Stevens, he was the only Kent bowler not to take a wicket although, like his colleagues, he was never afraid to risk boundaries by hitting an attacking length.And Trescothick’s wicket rather set the tone of the next hour’s cricket. The greenness of this Taunton pitch did not deceive; rather than being a featherbed, it required a little more respect than was shown by Eddie Byrom when he slashed Milnes straight to Stevens in the gully. But by the time Byrom was out Azhar Ali and James Hildreth had also departed, both caught at slip, with Azhar giving Milnes his first wicket for Kent after his close-season move from Nottinghamshire. Azhar and Hildreth did little more than push cautiously forward to balls which nipped a little off the pitch; both batsmen had hit five boundaries but neither could cover the bowlers’ movement, a weakness they shared with many of their colleagues.The only batsman whose innings lasted longer than an hour was Tom Abell, who made 49 before top-edging a hook off Claydon to the safe hands of Milnes at long leg. Until he made that error, Abell’s batting had looked both fluent and relatively safe, albeit that he had been dropped by wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson off Milnes when he had only a single.But the Somerset skipper’s dismissal was the first of six wickets taken by Kent in 13 overs after tea and no other home batsman encouraged confidence that a batting bonus point would be gained. Everyone bar Davey hit a boundary but by doing so they encouraged Kuhn’s bowlers to pitch the ball up. Claydon and Milnes did so readily and the latter’s accuracy was an eloquent comment on the current strength of seam bowling at Trent Bridge.Somerset’s innings had occupied 48 overs which had been littered with boundaries, close things and ten wickets. The 30 overs faced by Kent’s batsmen were tranquil by comparison. Until those two late wickets, Hildreth’s dropping of Dickson at slip off Lewis Gregory was the only event to trouble Kent’s watching director of cricket, Paul Downton. Somerset’s supporters can only hope for early wickets on Sunday. Until then, they can join the rest of us and be comforted by the recollection of a Saturday when they praised with elation the new morning.
Also, question mark remains over Russell’s fitness after blow to the shoulder during training
The Preview by Ankur Dhawan18-Apr-20195:30
Dasgupta: Gill batting up the order can give KKR the spark
Kolkata Knight Riders’ over dependence on Andre Russell is no state secret. In fact, it’s more by design than accident. However, it is around the allrounder Russell that their team was built. The problem here is Russell, the bowler. He has conceded over ten runs an over, without completing his quota of four overs even once this season.Against Chennai Super Kings at home, Russell leaked 16 in a momentum-shifting third over. Wickets through the middle kept Knight Riders in the contest but the lack of a fast-bowling option against the likes of Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja hurt them in the end.Russell’s fitness remains the other issue for Knight Riders; having hobbled around and off fields earlier in the tournament, he suffered another injury scare during practice in the lead-up to Friday’s game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but remains in contention to play. Regardless, perhaps it’s time for Knight Riders to look at Russell purely as a batsman and pick another seamer, either at the expense of a batsman or a spinner, to give themselves a better chance of restricting oppositions. Kerala seamer Sandeep Warrier could come in, should that happen.They are up against a side that knows a thing or two about losses piling up, but with playoff qualification only a distant theoretical possibility now, Royal Challengers unwittingly become the danger team you don’t want to lose to. If the threat still seems too meek, the availability of the newly signed Dale Steyn should change that, after coach Ashish Nehra described the chances of the pacer playing as “very high”.
Knight Riders: lost to Super Kings by five wickets, lost to Capitals by seven wickets, lost to Super Kings by seven wickets (most recent matches first)
Royal Challengers: lost to Mumbai by five wickets, beat Kings XI by eight wickets, lost to Capitals by four wickets
Andre Russell has suffered another injury scare; he took a blow to the shoulder in practice two days before the match, and went for X-rays on match eve. While captain Dinesh Karthik confirmed that Russell remains in the team’s plans for Royal Challengers, he said a final call would be taken closer to the match. West Indies, too, would be keeping their fingers crossed on this front, given they are due to name their World Cup squad on April 23.
Andre Russell belted 48 off 13 balls as Knight Riders equalled their own record of chasing the most runs in the last three overs: 53. Astonishingly, they did this with five balls to spare.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Nithish Rana, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk, capt), 6 Shubman Gill, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav/Sandeep Warrier, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Harry Gurney/Lockie FergusonRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Marcus Stoinis/Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Akshdeep Nath/Shivam Dube, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Yuzvendra Chahal, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Kulwant Khejroliya
Amit Mishra and Kagiso Rabada lead a strong performance with the ball after fifties from Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer
The Report by Mohammad Isam28-Apr-2019Delhi Capitals vaulted to the top of the IPL points table with a 16-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at home, the win putting them in the playoffs for the first time since 2012. They had star performers all around, starting with half-centuries from Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer, then a good finishing job from Sherfane Rutherford and Axar Patel, and finally a clinical bowling performance led by Amit Mishra and Kagiso Rabada.Mishra took two wickets in the crucial 13th over, and Rabada was excellent in the death overs – not to forget Ishant Sharma’s four-run 19th over – to leave Royal Challengers with no chance of pulling out a fourth successive win in their late-season resurgence.Dhawan, Iyer set a strong platform
Dhawan and Iyer struck fifties, lasting exactly 37 balls each. They struck seven fours and five sixes between them, as they added 68 runs for the second wicket that put Capitals in a position to push towards a big total. Dhawan mostly got his boundaries on the on-side, apart from hitting a four and a six through the covers and long-off. All five of Iyer’s boundaries – the two fours and three sixes – came through midwicket, while he found plenty of ones and twos on the leg-side too.Late charge gives Capitals a winning total
But once Dhawan and Iyer fell within three overs of each other, Capitals slowed down significantly. In between their dismissals in the 13th and 16th overs, Rishabh Pant also fell for seven off as many balls, which left the rest of the batting with a lot to do to get close to the 200-run mark. Colin Ingram fell for 11 too, to make it tougher, but Rutherford and Axar added 46 runs in the last 3.1 overs to get them to a score that eventually proved good enough. Rutherford struck three sixes and a four in his unbeaten 13-ball 28, while Patel struck three fours in his unbeaten 16.Rishabh Pant pulls off a stunning catch•BCCI
Capitals fielders back up their bowlersRahul Tewatia, fielding as a substitute, dropped Shivam Dube at a crucial juncture in the game, in the ninth over. That was, however, just one blip in an outstanding catching performance from the Capitals players on the day.The first was from Axar, who plucked Parthiv’s crunched cut out of thin air at point in the sixth over. Rutherford then took a straightforward – though hard-hit – catch off a Kohli pull at the deep soon after, but the real stunners were to follow. Axar again, away at deep midwicket, made good ground, caught the ball, and did a neat skip to avoid the boards to send AB de Villiers back, and Shikhar Dhawan pulled off a cool, running catch for Dube’s dismissal.The what-a-catch moments, though, belonged to Pant. First, when he hared away towards square-leg and threw in the dive to just about pouch Heinrich Klaasen. And then, in the penultimate over, when he dived and flung out his right hand to grab the chance off Gurkeerat Singh’s flash.Kohli & Co. lose their way
Parthiv Patel once again provided Royal Challengers with a fast start, hitting seven fours and a six in his 20-ball 39, as he added 63 with Virat Kohli in the opening stand. But once Axar caught Parthiv smartly at point off Rabada, Royal Challengers slowly slipped downwards.Kohli and AB de Villiers both fell to catches in the deep trying to pull half-trackers from Axar and Rutherford respectively, before Heinrich Klaasen, playing only his second IPL game of the season, was brilliantly caught by Pant in the 13th over. After Klaasen’s attempted scoop hit his helmet and lobbed away from the wicketkeeper, Pant ran hard to his left and dived to complete the catch at full stretch. Shivam Dube’s departure later in the same over added to Royal Challengers’ woes, as the equation went up to 77 from seven.No late surge as Rabada and Ishant shine
Gurkeerat Singh hitting Ishant for two fours and a six in the 17th over certainly gave Royal Challengers some hope, with the equation down from 52 off 24 to a very gettable 36 from 18. But Rabada conceded just six runs in the following over and Ishant, desperate to have another go and prove a point, then went for four in the penultimate over, before Rabada shut down the chase with another efficient final over in which he gave away just nine runs.
The opener scored his second World Cup hundred to set base for an imposing total, and the left-arm quick blew Sri Lanka away after they had threatened to make a game of it
The Report by Daniel Brettig15-Jun-2019
As it happenedAustralia’s best stuff, personified by Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc, looked world-beating against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Yet there were still signs that Finch’s team have plenty of kinks to iron out, not least problems in an unbalanced batting order but also the continued reliance of the bowling attack on Starc and Pat Cummins, currently first and second on the tournament wickets table.There were times, when Finch, Smith and Maxwell were in full flight, and when Starc helped cut Sri Lanka down from 186 for 2 to their final tally of 247, when the Australians appeared irresistible; indeed, this win took them to the top of the competition table. But these moments were interspersed with issues that seem hard to fathom from a team contending for a World Cup, such as how Shaun Marsh ends up trying to start a top-order innings in the final five overs, and why Australia persist in ignoring Nathan Lyon as their best fourth-bowling option.WATCH on Hotstar (India only): Match highlightsAt some point in this tournament these issues will rear, as they did against India, also at The Oval, but Sri Lanka were neither confident nor accomplished enough to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them by Australian blind spots. They pulled Finch back from a rapid start but then allowed him to reset with Smith. They were able to sprint to 115 for 0 and then 186 for 2 before losing momentum and creating a scenario in which Starc bowled with scoreboard pressure behind him.Even so, Finch’s performance in particular was worthy of praise, being crisp and punishing in equal measure, and the contributions of Smith, Maxwell and Starc were very much in line with what the team expects of them. On current form, Australian look set fair to also defeat Bangladesh, meaning their final trio of games against England, New Zealand and South Africa will be met with a minimal degree of anxiety.An overcast morning and a pitch tinged green swayed both sides to ignore their specialist spin bowlers and also Dimuth Karunaratne to send the Australians in – Finch would have done likewise. Immediately it was apparent that the surface was easier paced than expected with very little sideways movement, allowing Finch to get into stride with a series of beautifully crisp drives off both front and back foot – aided too by some substandard ground fielding.Aaron Finch gets into a good position to drive•IDI via Getty Images
David Warner, despite his Taunton century, was less fluent, rather mimicking his struggles at The Oval against India. The part-time spin of Dhananjaya de Silva put a clamp on the scoring and then found a way through Warner when he sought a way off strike by leaning back to try and cut off the stumps.Usman Khawaja, returning to No. 3 after a couple of demotions, did not fare any better, having to swerve out of the way of a Nuwan Pradeep bouncer before trying to slog-sweep Dhananjaya and picking out deep midwicket. Sixty-nine for no loss after 13 overs devolved to 110 for 2 at the halfway point, but Finch and Smith needed only a brief few overs of settling down before going on the attack.WATCH on Hotstar (India only): Mitchell Starc’s four-forThey were in many ways a perfect duo, Smith busy and inventive, Finch brutal and simple in approach. Between them they left the Sri Lankans with next to no margin for error, putting together a stand worth 173 from a mere 118 balls. Finch’s hundred was his second in World Cups, and by the time he fell to an Isuru Udana slower ball, he had tallied the third-highest individual score by an Australian at the World Cup – putting Adam Gilchrist’s 149 in the 2007 final in the shade.Smith looked similarly intent on a hundred, only to be tunnelled under by a Lasith Malinga yorker that left the former captain looking to the heavens in frustration. But his innings had been a sparkling one, full of the energy and resolution that suggested he was fresh in both body and mind. Smith has not played a truly big innings in this tournament yet, but he looks ready to unleash one at a moment of import.Maxwell’s arrival brought a typical flurry, including 22 off Pradeep’s final over to leave him nursing figures of 0 for 88 from 10 overs. At 302 for four with five overs remaining, a score in the region of 360 looked plausible, but Sri Lanka were to push back with the help of Australia’s still-unbalanced batting. Shaun Marsh looked as suited to the middle order as Maxwell does the top order in cobbling three from nine balls, the resultant slowdown reaping a pair of run-outs as Malinga, Udana and Thisara Perera all finished well. Maxwell nudged a boundary from the final ball, but 32 from the last five overs might have been match-losing on another day.Kusal Perera got Sri Lanka off to a flying start•Getty Images
As it was, Sri Lanka threatened for more than half the chase, starting out with a starburst of shots from Kusal Perera and Karunaratne that brought the many Sri Lankan supporters in the crowd to vocal life. Australia’s liberal diet of short balls was feasted upon, and the curious decision to call up Jason Behrendorff and then not give him the new ball contributed to his first three overs costing 32.When Kane Richardson made a speculative caught-behind appeal and Finch called for a review, the lack of any evidence on replay meant that when Maxwell pinned Karunaratne in front of the stumps from around the wicket, but far enough down the pitch for Richard Illingworth to say not out, there was no referral to discover that ball-tracker would have brought three reds and the first Sri Lankan wicket.Finch, though, was able to bring Starc back, and a full, straight delivery knocked back Kusal Perera’s middle stump. Karunaratne persisted, however, with help from Lahiru Thirimanne and Kusal Mendis, and at 186 for 2 in the 33rd over the game was well and truly alive. However, Karunaratne was slowed by the tidy bowling of Maxwell, playing the stopping role earlier performed by Dhananjaya, and in trying to cut his way from 97 to 101 found Maxwell lurking to take the catch in the gully.Four wickets in four overs were soon to follow, three of them to the intimidating Starc – including two in as many balls removing Thisara and Kusal Mendis – the reward for pressure impose area but also the precision of the left-armer now well established in World Cup matches.It was unsurprising in a few ways that things devolved so dramatically, for this is a Sri Lankan team short on confidence and experience, while the Australians are growing ever more confident of their ability to defend a target, not least when Starc and Cummins are lurking. Starc’s haul took him to 13 wickets for the tournament – he is two clear of the next best, Cummins. In their fortunes, lie Australia’s.