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Only four batsmen reached double figures and two bowlers took five-fors in Barbados Trident’s low-scoring four-wicket win against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in Bridgetown

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShakib Al Hasan’s best T20 figures of 6 for 6 restricted Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel to 52•Getty ImagesOnly four batsmen reached double figures and two bowlers took five-fors in Barbados Trident’s low-scoring four-wicket win against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in Bridgetown. The T20 match actually lasted just over 20 overs and only 105 runs were scored in all on the same ground where over 300 were scored in the opening match of the Caribbean Premier League.Jason Holder accounted for two of the top three T&T batsmen, who fell within five overs after they elected to bat. It was a Shakib Al Hasan show from there on as he ran through the batting line up, dismissing the next six batsmen to finish with figures of 6 for 6 from his four overs.The solo performance had started much earlier when he took the openers’ catches off Holder and Shannon Gabriel. His spell included a triple-wicket maiden, the tenth over of the innings, in which he trapped Dwayne Bravo lbw with an arm ball for 5, got Nicolas Pooran caught at short leg for a duck, and then rattled Kevon Cooper’s stumps on the last ball of the over. From 40 for 4, T&T were now 40 for 7. Shakib came back to dismiss Samuel Badree and Kevin O’Brien in his fourth over. Gabriel finished the innings with his second wicket and only two batsmen, Davy Jacobs and Ross Taylor, reached double figures.Chasing only 53, Jonathan Carter gave Barbados a flying start smashing two sixes in the first over in which Sulieman Benn conceded 20 runs. But Fidel Edwards counterattacked by dismissing the openers in his first over with his swing and pace. Benn continued and had Shoaib Malik caught at second slip for 5. Barbados’ hopes of finishing the chase easily were dashed further when Edwards got Umar Akmal caught at slip and took two more wickets, of Shakib and Kyle Mayers, in his third over to reduce Barbados to 39 for 6. However, they needed only 14 more and Ashley Nurse finished it off two overs later with a four over the midwicket boundary.Barbados are at the top of the table with six points from three unbeaten matches.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers kept their home run going, stopping Mumbai Indians just short of 130 on a slow pitch which the visiting batsmen could never get going on, despite losing only four wickets

The Report by Abhishek Purohit01-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIshant Sharma’s spell of 2 for 15 kept Mumbai Indians to a low score•BCCIThis was a clash between the IPL’s most powerful line-up and its most effective attack. Here was a line-up that had had just one failure in nine games. Here was an attack that was still to concede more than 130 at home. The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers kept their home run going, stopping Mumbai Indians just short of 130 on a slow pitch which the visiting batsmen could never get going on, despite losing only four wickets. Shikhar Dhawan guided the chase single-handedly, peppering both square boundaries as he motored to his second fifty in three innings.Apart from the pitch and the home attack, what went against Mumbai Indians was that they lost their four wickets in groups of two each, sucking out whatever momentum they had managed to build on both occasions. The first time it happened, a start of 32 in 4.2 overs was squandered. The second time, two batsmen, Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma, who had spent enough time in the middle to have assessed the wicket, fell in the same over.It was Ishant Sharma who began Sunrisers’ dominance. Sachin Tendulkar had whipped and lofted Dale Steyn for successive fours but Ishant’s short of a good length stuff was to prove difficult to time. Tendulkar backed away and missed one that nipped in from that length. Two balls later, the in-form Dinesh Karthik reached for one that wasn’t quite there for the drive, and sliced it to backward point.As he usually does, Dwayne Smith took his time in the Powerplay but unlike normally, he found the runs weren’t coming even during the middle overs. Ishant was bowling a superb line and length, and the two legspinners, Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma, were getting grip and turn.Smith was dropped by Ishant at long-off in Mishra’s second over but got a poor decision in the bowler’s next, given out lbw after gloving an attempted sweep onto the pads. Four balls later, Rohit mishit in front of long-off and this time, Ishant made no mistake.Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard had seven overs to go, and managed to last till the end, but as evidence of how accurate the Sunrisers bowlers were, the partnership went over run a ball only twice in those overs.Steyn came back well after an expensive opening over, signing off with six full and low balls in his last over. Thisara Perera wasn’t far behind apart from the 20th over that went for 16, finding swing on his full deliveries.Mumbai Indians don’t have a bad attack at all, but Dhawan is not in bad form either after Test debut against Australia. A chase of 130 could easily have got close – Sunrisers defended 126 here against Pune Warriors – but Dhawan was in a different mood.Pragyan Ojha created some pressure, giving just 18 in four overs, but Sunrisers broke away in the 12th over as Rohit tried Smith. Dhawan and Hanuma Vihari took 15 off Smith’s mediums. Dhawan bossed the attack after that, cutting, pulling and lofting over extra cover at will to end the game with a couple of overs left.

The emergent working committee meeting of the BCCI to be held on Monday morning is all set to drop board president N Srinivasan from the board’s disciplinary committee and curtail it to a two-member panel

Amol Karhadkar09-Jun-2013The BCCI’s working committee is likely to drop board president N Srinivasan from the disciplinary committee, reducing it to a two-member panel, during the meeting in Delhi on Monday. The working committee is also likely to hand over the probe of the complaint against Rajasthan Royals co-owner Raj Kundra to the two-member commission comprising two former High Court judges.The committee will also examine the findings of BCCI’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Ravi Sawani in the alleged spot-fixing case against the three Royals cricketers and his recommendations.Kundra, who owns 11.7% stake in the parent company of Royals, admitted to betting on his team’s matches, according to Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar. However, unlike Gurunath Meiyappan, a team management member of Chennai Super Kings and son-in-law of Srinivasan who was arrested by Mumbai Police on similar charges before being released on bail, Kundra hasn’t been arrested. As a result, the working committee will mostly likely forward the complaint against Kundra to the commission that was appointed to probe three previous complaints.”Since the two-member panel is anyway going to investigate the complaints against Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings and Gurunath, and Kundra’s complaint is related to the same case, it makes sense for the same commission to look into this complaint as well,” a BCCI source told ESPNcricinfo.Based on the arrests of three Royals players and of Gurunath, the IPL had registered a complaint against both the teams and Gurunath before constituting a probe. In Kundra’s case, however, the IPL has already registered an internal complaint of allegedly violating the players’ and officials’ Code of Conduct and Anti-Corruption Policy.The decision to remove Srinivasan from the disciplinary committee is expected to be formalised on Monday. In the first of these emergent meetings – in Chennai on May 19 – Sawani had been appointed to conduct preliminary findings into the spot-fixing complaints against Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, who were arrested on May 16.As per the instructions issued by the Supreme Court, Sawani submitted his report to Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI in-charge, on June 6. As per the BCCI procedure, the working committee will now forward the report to the disciplinary committee and even though it cannot replace Srinivasan in the disciplinary panel, it will most likely drop him.”According to the (BCCI) constitution, only the AGM can appoint the disciplinary committee. Since the president has decided not to be a part of day-to-day proceedings, the disciplinary committee has no option but to work as a two-member panel,” a BCCI source said. The disciplinary committee will now comprise vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Niranjan Shah.The working committee is also set to ratify Sanjay Patel’s appointment as the BCCI secretary after Sanjay Jagdale resigned during the corruption controversy. The committee is also likely to appoint a new treasurer after Dalmiya withheld T Venkatesh’s appointment as Ajay Shirke’s replacement. While Dalmiya, along with other BCCI functionaries, had zeroed in on the Karnataka State Cricket Association’s treasurer as Shirke’s replacement, a senior functionary realised after the decision had been made that Venkatesh hadn’t attended at least two BCCI AGMs, which is a prerequisite to be appointed as an office bearer.

West Indies Women began their tour of Sri Lanka on a good note, beating the hosts by four wickets in the first ODI in Dambulla on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2013
Scorecard West Indies began their tour of Sri Lanka on a good note, beating the hosts by four wickets in the first ODI in Dambulla on Friday.Sri Lanka chose to bat, but struggled through their innings. While the top four all managed to get starts, no one was able to carry on. The West Indies bowlers, medium-pacer Shakera Selman in particular, kept a lid on the scoring rate. Selman finished with a miserly 10-5-8-2. A lower-order collapse didn’t help matters and, at 127 for 8, it looked like Sri Lanka would fold for a small total. However, a 34-run partnership between Sripali Weerakkody and Dilani Manodara, dragged the Sri Lankan total past 150.The World Cup runners-up never looked in much trouble during their chase of 164, even though they lost a few wickets in a cluster at the end. Natasha McLean and Juliana Nero put together a solid 41 for the first wicket, before McLean was dismissed for 17. Stafanie Taylor, in her first match as captain, fell cheaply to the medium pace of Chamani Seneviratna. West Indies, however, were in a spot of bother as Nero fell for 30 with the score on 76.The impetus for the West Indies chase came from a 73-run, fourth-wicket partnership between Deandra Dottin and Kyshona Knight. Dottin played a typically belligerent knock, as she hit two fours and four sixes, scoring 43 of 39 runs. Kyshona played a more composed knock; her 36 coming off 54 balls. West Indies stuttered a little towards the end, losing Knight and Dottin in consecutive overs, but West Indies were able to successfully chase the target.

A round-up of the Ford Trophy matches played on March 19, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Mar-2013
ScorecardA century from James Franklin and a six-wicket haul from seamer Mark Gillespie took Wellington to a crushing 106-run victory over Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve. The result pushed Wellington to third place after the final round of matches ahead of the playoffs.Wellington lost wickets early on in their innings, with none of the top four lasting too long. But at 93 for 4, Franklin struck a 63-run stand with Harry Boam and followed it up with a 122-run stand with Luke Woodcock (44), which was broken only in the final over. Franklin finished with 114 off 103 balls as Wellington gave their opponents a stiff target of 281.In reply, Northern Districts lost wickets regularly. Gillespie did the early damage with three top-order wickets and fellow seamer Boam chipped in with two crucial wickets to leave them struggling. Besides Corey Anderson, who scored 49, there was no resistance from the batsmen. Gillespie cleaned up the tail to bowl them out for 174 in the 40th over.
ScorecardOtago finished their tournament run with their second win, against Auckland by six wickets in Dunedin. Seamers Jimmy Neesham and Ian Butler helped bowl Auckland out for 221, before a solid top-order batting effort, led by fifties from Michael Bracewell and Nathan McCullum, took them to the target in the 46th over.Batting first, Auckland progressed in stops and starts. A few of their batsmen got starts, but no one carried on to anchor a strong total. Craig Cachopa, who top-scored with 51, opener Anaru Kitchen (38) and Donovan Grobbelaar (38) were the chief contributors. Neesham took 4 for 36, and Butler took three wickets.
ScorecardCentral Districts finished the league stage at the bottom of the points table, with their fifth defeat of the season – a 156-run loss to Canterbury in Christchurch.Chasing 292, they were in the hunt till the 23rd over with Jamie How, who scored 83, leading them to 120 for 4. But his wicket sparked a collapse – they lost six wickets for 15 runs to be bowled out for 135 in 28 overs, with seamer Logan van Beek taking four of those wickets. Besides How, there was no resistance from Central Districts as eight batsmen scored in single digits.Canterbury’s innings revolved around solid half-centuries from middle-order batsmen Tom Latham (77) and Henry Nicholls (54). Other top-order batsmen also chipped in with useful contributions to help build a commanding total. A total of 34 extras, including 19 wides, pushed their score to 291.

The one-off Twenty20 match between South Africa and India, to be played in Johannesburg on March 30, has left the majority of nine IPL franchises aggrieved

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Mar-2012Players on the run

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Albie Morkel
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Jacques Kallis, Marchant de Lange
Pune Warriors: Robin Uthappa, Ashok Dinda, Rahul Sharma, Wayne Parnell, Allan Donald (bowling coach), Paddy Upton (mental conditioning coach)
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Richard Levy, Robin Peterson
Delhi Daredevils: Irfan Pathan, Morne Morkel
Kings XI Punjab: Praveen Kumar
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Vinay Kumar, AB de Villiers
Deccan Chargers: Dale Steyn, JP Duminy, Rusty Theron
Rajasthan Royals: Johan Botha

The one-off Twenty20 match between South Africa and India, to be played in Johannesburg on March 30, has left the majority of nine IPL franchises aggrieved. To get their preparations in place, team officials say they require a window of at least a week before the league begins.Even before the announcement of the Twenty20 fixture, IPL franchises considered their hands tied already, a packed international schedule also coinciding with the end of the domestic seasons in India and South Africa.The match, which Cricket South Africa announced would be an annual fixture, could leave a bunch of players exhausted as it comes at the back of long seasons for India and South Africa. The Twenty20 game to be played at the Wanderers comes three days after South Africa finish their tour of New Zealand with three back-to-back Tests, a week after the Asia Cup, and four days before the start of the IPL in Chennai on April 4. The match also comes close on the heels of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament (ending on March 27) and the MiWAY Cup (final on April 1), the domestic Twenty20 tournaments for India and South Africa respectively.MS Dhoni will lead a 15-member Indian squad for the one-off Twenty20 International, while at least ten South Africans belonging to the various IPL franchises are expected to take part. The South African squad is yet to be announced.In terms of numbers, the teams that would bear the maximum brunt from the Twenty20 are Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders; as many as five players from each of those two teams could feature in the India v South Africa game. Next are Pune Warriors, who have four of their players travelling for the match along with the coaching pair of Allan Donald and Paddy Upton. In fact, each of the nine franchises has at least one player in the match.”It disrupts the team schedule,” a franchise official told ESPNcricinfo. “You are going to be travelling for two days to go there and come back. Some of the players might be jet-lagged by the time they start playing.” Compounding the problem for some players would be the captains’ need to travel to Chennai on April 3 to sign the spirit of cricket document.Gautam Gambhir, the Knight Riders captain, would travel to Johannesburg on March 29, return to India on March 31. He is likely to rush to Kolkata, practice for a day or two, fulfil franchise promotion activities, and then slip in and out of Chennai on April 3 for the captains meet. On April 5, he will walk out for the toss in the Knight Riders’ season-opener against Delhi Daredevils at Eden Gardens.”You want to get the players at least a week before the tournament, otherwise it becomes difficult as your planning goes haywire. Ideally you would like to start the camp two weeks before the tournament. But with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 finishing only on Mach 27, it becomes an issue,” another franchise official said.An official from another franchise said a big hurdle during the previous four IPL seasons was that it took time for a diverse bunch of players to come together and understand each other. “You are trying to get 30 players from different parts of the world to group, but it becomes very difficult to get them together and ask them to gel in a matter of a few days.”Considering the Twenty20 is going to be an annual fixture, the consensus among the franchises is there should be a clear window of at least a week, if not two, for the players to join the camp. “If you have 10-day camp you can make some plans at least, play some practice matches to devise a few strategies and understand player strengths and weaknesses. But with this match, that is not possible entirely,” a franchise official said.The shortage of time also means that the problems regarding acclimatisation for overseas players only gets more difficult. “It is also about conditions. There are players who are coming from New Zealand and South Africa where the pitches are all bouncy and suddenly they find themselves on flatter tracks,” another franchise official said.There seems to be no solution, with various franchise officials saying their hands are tied and they would have to make do by working with the remaining players. “We cannot help it. What can we do? You can’t play the match after the IPL as the conditions are not favourable in South Africa. The only option is players will rush in and there will be too many things that would need to be done quickly.”

Half-centuries from Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza led Zimbabwe to a stunning nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the tri-series final at Harare Sports Club

The Report by Liam Brickhill24-Jun-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza walk off the field after an outstanding chase•AFPHalf-centuries from Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza led Zimbabwe to a stunning nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the tri-series final at Harare Sports Club. Faced with the tricky prospect of chasing South Africa’s 146 for 6, both batsmen showed remarkable poise and confidence to race to the win with 17 balls to spare. Their efforts capped a superb day for Zimbabwe, who kept South Africa under pressure with the ball throughout. The visitors had been carried by Faf du Plessis’ fighting fifty but his efforts went in vain, and the South African bowling attack had no answers to a flawless batting display.Masakadza had been fortunate to survive what seemed to be an adjacent lbw call against Lonwabo Tsotsobe off the very first delivery and Zimbabwe lost an adventurous Vusi Sibanda to a stunning catch by Farhaan Behardien at cover point in the fourth over. Taylor and Masakadza, however, kept control of the chase from that point on with a chanceless partnership that stretched to an unbeaten 118.Where Zimbabwe’s efforts with the new ball had been full of vim and vigour, South Africa’s response was not nearly as intense and the match turned decisively in the sixth over of the innings, bowled by Robin Peterson. Peterson had been South Africa’s bowler of the tournament before this match, giving away less than six runs an over in his previous games, but he fell victim to a stunning assault in his first over. Taylor led the charge with a slog-swept six and a brace of offside boundaries before Masakadza stepped out to smear a towering blow over wide long on, 21 runs coming off the over.These matches were not classed as internationals, the games falling outside the ICC’s Future Tours Programme and having originally been set up as simple practice matches, but that mattered not a jot to a packed Sports Club crowd. An all-singing, all-dancing multitude of several thousand cheered every run as Taylor moved swiftly through the 20s with a trademark deft, ramped uppercut and Masakadza extended Peterson’s pain by shellacking a second six over deep midwicket.The runs continued to flow and South Africa looked increasingly desperate in the field as the required rate dipped below six runs an over. Taylor was first to his fifty, reaching the mark from just 32 deliveries courtesy of a sloppy overthrow in the 15th over. Usually a somewhat reticent presence on the field, Masakadza celebrated his own half-century two overs later with joyful emotion, pumping his fist and embracing his captain before saluting all corners of a packed stadium. After reaching his fourth fifty of the tournament – an achievement that rightfully earned him the Man-of-the-Series award – Masakadza took Zimbabwe to the brink of a famous victory with a flurry of powerful boundaries off a listless Tsotsobe, before Taylor ended the match with a crunching pull.This tournament had been billed as a chance for the teams involved to get some valuable practice ahead of the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September and Jason Gillespie, who spent some time in Zimbabwe coaching the Mid West Rhinos, suggested on Twitter last week that Zimbabwe had the raw materials to do well at that event. All that was missing for them, he suggested, was a little confidence in their batting. That wasn’t a problem today, as both Taylor and Masakadza seamlessly mixed watchful accumulation with decisive bouts of attack.It was a different story for a South African side shorn of their best players. After a strong start against Bangladesh, they stumbled on multiple occasions and were under pressure early once again this afternoon when Kyle Jarvis removed Richard Levi with the first delivery of the day. An over later Amla fell for Chris Mpofu’s short-ball trap, lapping a pull straight to Malcolm Waller at deep square leg, and the Zimbabwean attack had its tails up.The visitors lost Colin Ingram, Justin Ontong and Dane Vilas cheaply to the Zimbabwean spinners and were looking decidedly wobbly at 67 for 5 in the 12th over before du Plessis marshalled the middle order. Fleet footwork, especially to the slow bowlers, was the hallmark of his innings. He also batted with remarkable control and had struck just three fours when he brought up a 48-ball fifty in the 16th over.He found an able partner in Albie Morkel, and together they added 60 for the sixth wicket to rebuild the innings. The South African bowlers could not match their persistence, however, and never looked like running through the Zimbabweans.Prior to this tournament Zimbabwe had beaten South Africa just twice in a pair of ODIs in 1999 and 2000-01. They have now gone past them twice in a week, a result that will give them oodles of confidence when they face the full South African side at the World Twenty20 in three month’s time. Zimbabwe earned prize money of US$3500 today, but a historic victory will taste even sweeter.

Pune Warriors succumbed to the tournament’s whipping boys, Deccan Chargers, batting them out of the match for the second time in less than a week

The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran01-May-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsCameron White scored his second fifty against Pune Warriors•AFPPune Warriors succumbed to the tournament’s whipping boys, Deccan Chargers, batting them out of the match for the second time in less than a week. It wasn’t a flawless win for the Chargers’ though, as their ground fielding and catching continued to look sloppy. Their saviour was an explosive stand of 157 between the two experienced hands – Cameron White and Kumar Sangakkara – which took them to 186. The Warriors slumped to their third consecutive loss and remained third from bottom in the points table.The Chargers won the toss but got off to a poor start when they lost Parthiv Patel first ball, dragging Marlon Samuels onto his off stump.The pressure increased on the inconsistent White and out-of-form Sangakkara, who brought himself back after sitting out the last match. The first ten overs was a slow and steady build for the Chargers, who struggled to get the run-rate above six.Sangakkara didn’t look convincing at the start, playing and missing and also getting an under-edge off a drive. Chargers managed only five boundaries in the first nine overs, before a straight six by White off Murali Kartik in the tenth over gave the Warriors a sign of things to come.It was as if the Chargers began on a fresh slate. The run-rate began creeping over six after the 12th over, the point from which Chargers took control. The 15th over was Sangakkara’s turning point in this tournament as he smashed four boundaries off Samuels. He lofted inside out over extra cover, edged to third man, smashed one over the bowler’s head and swept past short fine leg.Sangakkara brought up his fifty the following over with a chip to short fine leg after which he pumped his fists. Sourav Ganguly, who had conceded 15 off two overs, brought himself back on to stem the runs but it turned out to be a tactical blunder as his meaty offerings cost the Warriors 25 runs. White slogged three consecutive sixes over the on side before clipping one to fine leg for four, in the process outscoring Sangakkara.Sangakkara then took on Nehra, showing the confidence to innovate by shuffling at the crease and fetching four boundaries, including two sixes. Attempted yorkers turned into friendly full tosses, which Sangakkara pounded over the leg side. Chargers ransacked 50 off two overs before the pair fell off successive deliveries. They smashed 95 off the last six overs and gave themselves a shot at beating the Warriors for the second time.The Warriors too dubiously lost a wicket off the first ball of the innings – the first such occurance in the IPL. After Manish Pandey tamely chipped Ankit Sharma to mid-on, Ganguly walked in, ahead of Steve Smith, as if taking a cue from the Chargers to have two experienced players in the face of a big task.The start was still encouraging for the Warriors as Ganguly and Clarke unsettled Dale Steyn, hammering 17 off his second over. Ganguly fetched a four over cover at the start, before Clarke fetched three consecutive fours consisting of a flick and two cuts square on the off side. The bowler who had figures of 2 for 10 in four overs against Mumbai Indians a few nights back, ended with figures 4-0-46-0.Ganguly took charge against the spinners and as the partnership mounted, aided by a couple of dropped catches off Ganguly’s bat – honours were even. A top edge by Clarke was spilled by Shikhar Dhawan at point, but to his luck, the batsmen risked a second run and an alert Amit Mishra gathered the ball and fired it to the wicketkeeper with Clarke a yard short of his crease.Dhawan made amends the following over when Ganguly scooped one straight to cover. Embarrassed at falling to a part-timer, a peeved Ganguly walked back, flinging his bat and gloves as he headed to the dug-out. Robin Uthappa and Smith added 62, but their efforts could only get them close to the target. The Chargers toasted their second win, but left their coaching staff with plenty of headaches over the fielding.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran07-May-2012Match factsMonday, May 7
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Kevin Pietersen’s exit brings in David Warner•AFPBig PictureOnly one point separates Delhi Daredevils from Kolkata Knight Riders and a win for the Knight Riders will take them to the lead. The teams met at the start of the tournament, but not many would have expected at that stage that these two would be the powerhouses as the league approaches the playoffs. The rain-affected game at Eden Gardens was reduced to 12 overs a side, during which Knight Riders managed 97 for 9. It was a comfortable eight-wicket win for Daredevils, a sign of things to come as they strengthened their position in the table over the coming weeks.Daredevils have dropped just one game at the Feroz Shah Kotla this season. A big reason for their reversal of form from last season was Kevin Pietersen, who left after smashing 305 runs in eight innings, including a century. Pietersen will join England for the home series against West Indies, but his replacement is the equally intimidating David Warner. The Australian opener wasn’t at his best on the sluggish pitches in the West Indies which tested his patience. Still, he managed respectable returns of 171 runs in the three Tests. He will relish the batting highways in India, starting with the Kotla, which has been a high-scoring venue this season.Knight Riders are coming off a hard-fought win against Pune Warriors. They managed to defend a middling 150, thanks to their varied bowling attack which offered the best of raw pace and mystery spin. However, their middle and lower batting remains a concern as they crumbled after a century opening stand. Gautam Gambhir would hope that the batting finally comes good in this game as the bowlers will need the cushion against Daredevils.Form guide (completed games, most recent first)
Delhi Daredevils: WWWWL
Kolkata Knight Riders: WWWWWPlayers to watchOne of the fascinating contests of Knight Riders’ match against Warriors was Sunil Narine v Sourav Ganguly who for all his experience against spin, was at sea against Narine’s viscious spin. With figures of 1 for 13 in four overs, Narine took the Man-of-the-Match award. Will he be able to silence the likes of Virender Sehwag and Warner as well?With 91 runs from seven innings, Daredevils’ Ross Taylor is yet to show up. Fortunately, his lack of form hasn’t affected the team’s results. But in Pietersen’s absence, Taylor’s role will be important.Stats and trivia Virender Sehwag needs 18 more runs to overtake Ajinkya Rahane for the Orange Cap in this IPL. David Warner made 324 runs in 13 games for Daredevils last season.Quotes”I am pretty sure I’ll be opening up with Viru and will try to continue the success we have had in previous years.”
“We messed up big time. The kind of start we had with the depth in batting we could have easily got past 180. It’s time the batsmen pulled up their socks.
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The ECB remains fully committed to ensuring the Test Championship comes to fruition

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's24-Nov-2011The ECB remains fully committed to ensuring the Test Championship comes to fruition after initial hopes of staging an inaugural event in England during 2013 were scuppered by the ICC’s current broadcast deal.Earlier this month Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, confirmed that a Test Championship won’t take place until at least 2017 due to the commitment in the current TV rights package with ESPN STAR Sports for a Champions Trophy tournament in the 2013 season.”We are building towards the Test Championship in 2017,” David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said. “I’m very confident it will form part of the calendar in that year.”It is common knowledge that we were the main advocates for the Test Championship and we still believe that very strongly,” he added. “We recognise the challenges when you already have contracts in place for the 2013 season but remain fervent in our support for the Test Championship and we’ll be pushing very hard to make sure in happens in the future.”I don’t think the interest in Test cricket has ever been higher in this country. I realise there are challenges elsewhere in the world but in this country it is still the true test of a cricketer.”England are one of the few Test nations where the game is healthy both on the field and in the stands and Collier’s remarks came on the day that the ECB announced a 10-year title sponsorship for the Test game with Investec. Andrew Strauss, the England Test captain, has previously voiced his concerns about the future of the five-day game and again warned that it would be dangerous for the English game to become complacent because crowds remain strong on home soil.The recent series between South Africa and Australia produced thrilling cricket but was never played in front of a full stadium over the two Tests, while the current contests between India and West Indies have been greeted by poor attendances – although the Sachin Tendulkar effect is having an impact in Mumbai.”I’d hate to think that anyone is arrogant enough to assume that it will always be around. I don’t think that is the case,” Strauss said. “I’m buoyed by what great support there is for the game in this country but I’m quite aware that in other parts of the world it is less so. We are in a fortunate position here, but administrators all around the world need to keep working on the product.”It’s important to market the game as well as possible. In a lot of ways in the past we’ve just relied on Test cricket always being around. Now we’ve got to knock our heads together and work out what the best way is to get people watching Test cricket. There’s a fairly strong argument saying that using one-day and T20 cricket to feed through can work. But I also think that added context to Test cricket is important, not just through bilateral series but playing for something greater whether it be the World Test Championship or something similar.”Administrators are also coming under pressure to back up their talk of defending Test cricket with actions. The delay to the Test Championship, the two-match series between South Africa and Australia and next year’s three-match contest involving England and South Africa are cited as examples to show administrators aren’t seriousHowever, Collier insisted there is a balancing act to strike so that the ten Test nations all remain viable rather than it becoming a game for a few elite teams. “If you always played five Test series you’d end up not playing some countries at all and ending up with three or four Test nations wouldn’t be good for cricket as a whole. It’s good that we are able to protect a number of nations.”If we play five Tests against one side [in a summer] we play two against the other,” he added. “We aren’t playing Zimbabwe or Bangladesh at home in this FTP cycle, they are just away series, so it means the two-Test series will be against the likes of New Zealand and Sri Lanka. It’s very important when we got back there, for example to New Zealand, that they have three Test matches so we have to help those countries as well.”