Former Maharashtra batsmen Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Dheeraj Jadhav have joined Goa as coach and professional respectively for the forthcoming domestic season

Amol Karhadkar24-Jul-2015Former Maharashtra batsmen Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Dheeraj Jadhav have joined Goa as coach and professional respectively for the forthcoming domestic season. Both men have been handed one-year contracts by the Goa Cricket Association.While Kanitkar announced his retirement from competitive cricket earlier this month, Jadhav has moved closer to his hometown Pune after playing for Assam for six seasons, starting from 2009-10.”After helping Assam qualifying for the top tier as captain, there was a sense of achievement. When the Goa opportunity cropped up, I took it up since it is again a new challenge to help the team into the elite,” Jadhav told ESPNcricinfo. “And it is a great feeling to be able to be reunited with Hrishi. We had some great memories as team-mates. Let us hope we can revive the same magic for Goa this time around.”Kanitkar was the captain when Jadhav scored more than 1000 runs to help Maharashtra win the Ranji Trophy plate group in 2003-04. While Jadhav left Maharashtra to join the Indian Cricket League in 2007, Kanitkar joined Madhya Pradesh the following year. Kanitkar then joined Rajasthan and led them to consecutive Ranji titles, in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Jadhav, meanwhile, signed for Assam after returning to the BCCI fold and made 3256 runs, including 12 hundreds and 10 fifties from 44 matches at an average of 56.13.While Kanitkar played two Tests and 34 ODIs for India, Jadhav never got an international cap, though he managed to make the Test squad for three matches.The Goa stint will be Kanitkar’s first full-time coaching responsibility. In 2011, he was appointed as Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s assistant coach, but walked out of the contract even before the IPL season began because of disputes with the owners.”Coaching is something I am very keen on. If I get an opportunity to work with teams, it would be a great learning experience,” Kanitkar had said at the time of his retirement.The GCA has also announced former India wicketkeeper Ajay Ratra as its Under-19 coach. Ratra, who too announced his retirement earlier this month, has also played for Goa as a professional.

Reece Topley, the left-arm pace bowler, is to leave Essex and join Hampshire on a two-year deal

George Dobell31-Aug-2015Reece Topley, the left-arm pace bowler, is to leave Essex and join Hampshire on a two-year deal. Paul Grayson, the coach, is also leaving the club, while the future of the captain, James Foster, is uncertain.Topley, 21, who made his England debut in the T20 against Australia in Cardiff, rejected the offer of a new contract from Essex and was the subject of interest from eight other counties. It is understood that Hampshire did not offer the most money, but Topley was impressed by the plans of chairman Rod Bransgrove and the coach Giles White and felt the environment at the club would help him fulfil his potential.His signing in the face of so much competition – Surrey, Warwickshire and Worcestershire were among the other interested counties – represents something of a coup for Hampshire. Topley, a tall left-arm swing bowler, has outstanding red and white ball statistics for his age. He was the standout bowler at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup in Australia, is currently the leading wicket taker in this year’s Royal London Cup with 20 wickets and has 125 first-class victims at a cost of 25.78.Topley, who burst onto the professional scene in 2011 with successive five wicket hauls when just 17 and still at school, has said his ultimate ambition is to become the first left-arm pace bowler to claim 100 Test wickets for England.Leaving Essex will be a major wrench, though. Not only has he progressed through the club’s system – he has been there since he was nine – but his father, Don Topley, also represented the club for a decade as a bustling seam bowler and still commentates on the club for local radio.”I am extremely sad to be leaving Essex having played for the county since the age of nine and have thoroughly enjoyed my time in a great dressing room,” Topley said. “I would like to publicly thank all the players for their huge support and firm friendships.”In particular, I must also thank the two 1st XI coaches: Paul Grayson for the fantastic opportunity he has given me and to Chris Silverwood, who I have great admiration for and enjoyed working with.”It is understood Reece was unsettled by changes at the club. Since the return of Ronnie Irani as chairman of the cricket committee, the future of the coach, Grayson, has looked especially uncertain – ESPNcricinfo understands he is no longer working with the team while a severance package is agreed – with Irani his probable replacement.Grayson was appointed coach in July 2007. While Essex won the Friends Provident Trophy in 2008, they have not made the progress some expected since and currently sit mid-table in Division Two. Grayson’s supporters would argue, however, that he has never held much real power and was not given the authority to sign new players or agree contract terms.The future of the captain, Foster, is also unclear with the former England keeper understood to have received offers of employment from outside the game, including a role at a local private school. Topley remains close and appreciative of Grayson and Essex bowling coach, Chris Silverwood, but has a less obvious rapport with Irani. It could well be that Topley joins Hampshire on loan before the end of this season.It continues a worrying trend for Essex. While the club – perhaps as a result of its densely populated catchment area – has a fine record of producing talented players, Topley joins a list that includes Varun Chopra, Ben Foakes, Adam Wheater, Tony Palladino, Billy Godleman, Chris Wright and Tymal Mills as talented players who have recently left the club to pursue their county careers elsewhere.They are likely to sign another seamer – Surrey’s Tim Linely – as replacement for Topley, but losing a 21-year-old and gaining a 33-year-old – whatever his merits – is unlikely to impress Essex supporters.

Offspinning allrounder Bilal Asif took five wickets to set up a seven-wicket win for Pakistan over Zimbabwe in the series decider in Harare

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Harare05-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:26

Bilal Asif’s five-for rocks Zimbabwe

Pakistan cruised to a 2-1 series victory over Zimbabwe with a seven-wicket win in the third ODI at Harare Sports Club. Offspinning allrounder Bilal Asif was the chief architect in the demolition of Zimbabwe’s batting line-up by Pakistan’s spinners, taking 5 for 25 as the hosts were bowled out for just 161. Bilal’s wickets prompted an extraordinary collapse with Zimbabwe losing 10 for 72 to ruin what had been a solid start from their openers. The only downside for Pakistan is that they remain in ninth place in the ICC ODI rankings as a result of the loss on Saturday.Operating from the City End of the ground, Bilal bowled his ten overs on the trot after being brought on in the 13th over by stand-in captain Sarfraz Ahmed – regular leader Azhar Ali sitting this match out with an infected foot. Openers Chamu Chibhabha and Richmond Mutumbami initially seemed to play the offspinner without much alarm, but when Chibhabha popped a simple return catch to the bowler, Zimbabwe’s spectacular implosion was set in motion.Sean Williams shuffled down the track to loft Bilal to wide long-on, but then seemed in two minds as he lunged forward at a flighted delivery and ended up chipping another tame catch to the bowler. Bilal took his second in the over by bowling a noncommittal Elton Chigumbura via the inside edge, and from then on Zimbabwe offered virtually nothing in the way of resistance.Sikandar Raza shuffled right across to the off side as he set himself to sweep, but exposed his stumps in the process and was bowled. When Tino Mutombodzi backed away and missed a cut off when the ball kept a touch low, Bilal had his fifth and Zimbabwe were 127 for 6 in the 31st over.There had been a completely different complexion to their innings in the midst of Chibhabha and Mutumbami’s opening stand. Chibhabha played with characteristic conviction off the front foot and took much of the early strike. He was into the 20s before Mutumbami had even faced his third delivery, and looked set for a 15th ODI fifty before falling to Bilal.His wicket broke an 89-run opening stand, and he was soon followed back to the pavilion by Brian Chari, who was lbw to Imad Wasim playing back when he should have been forward. Darting the ball in from round the wicket, Imad helped himself to two more wickets and in total Zimbabwe lost 9 for 65 to 18.5 overs of spin.Their collapse completely overshadowed a brave innings from Mutumbami. He was attacking from the outset and weathered a fearsome blow to the head from Mohammad Irfan, the ball knocking his helmet off his head, to register a career-best 67 before Irfan won their battle by having him caught behind. After his knock on the head, and a stinging blow to his wrist off Wahab Riaz, Mutumbami did not take the field in the second innings, with Chari filling in as wicketkeeper.The malaise in Zimbabwe’s performance today continued during Pakistan’s chase, which started before the lunch break due to the brevity of the hosts’ innings. John Nyumbu put Bilal down at slip in the second over, and he took advantage of the let-off with a quickfire 38 on either side of the interval as Pakistan cruised past 50.Bilal was eventually well caught by a diving Mutumbodzi at long-on. Mohammad Hafeez didn’t last long and Pakistan were 104 for 3 when Ahmed Shehzad was stumped for a 61-ball 32, but Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq faced minimal resistance in knocking off the remaining runs during their unbroken 58-run stand.

The ex-wife of Lou Vincent, the disgraced former New Zealand cricketer, told Southwark Crown Court in London that Chris Cairns was “very confident” that he would get away with match-fixing because “everyone was doing it in India”

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2015The ex-wife of Lou Vincent, the disgraced former New Zealand cricketer, has told Southwark Crown Court in London that Chris Cairns was “very confident” that he would get away with match-fixing because “everyone was doing it in India”.Cairns, who denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, also told other players that they would “never play cricket again” unless they agreed to take part in fixing, according to testimony from Eleanor Riley, who was married to Vincent until the couple’s divorce in 2012.Riley was recalling a conversation with Cairns in a restaurant in Hale, near Manchester, in 2008, when her ex-husband was playing for Lancashire and Cairns for Nottinghamshire.After raising her concerns with Cairns about Vincent’s activities, whom she said had a “tendency to talk to anyone who listened” she said she was also reassured by Cairns’ wife, Mel, whom she had met for the first time that evening.Orlando Pownall QC, Cairns’ defence lawyer, put it to Mrs Riley that she been mistaken in her recollection of the conversation with someone she had apparently just met, and suggested she was “infected” by alcohol. Mrs Riley, however, pointed out that she had just eaten a five-course meal. “When I’ve had a large meal it doesn’t matter how much I drink, I’m as clear as a bell.”Asked by Sacha Wass, QC, the crown prosecutor, whether she had any reason to lie about the conversation with Cairns, Mrs Riley replied: “No, not at all. I certainly wouldn’t come to a perjury trial to lie.”She added that she and Vincent had not separated on good terms, and when asked if she had any reason to support her ex-husband, she replied: “None at all.”Her first exposure to match-fixing had come in April 2008 when Vincent rang her in tears, claiming that Cairns had asked him to match-fix but that he hadn’t been able to follow through.”He said he had been approached by a man with a suitcase in Abu Dhabi. He [Vincent] said he refused, and told me that part of the training was how to handle situations like this – being approached for match-fixing.”Five days later, however, Mrs Riley claimed that Vincent had changed his story. “He was crying. He told me that he had lied, that he had taken the money for the match-fixing. He told me that he had stuffed a game up. He just hadn’t played how he was supposed to play.”He said that he was working with Chris – Chris Cairns.”Vincent had previously testified that he had been “under direct orders from Chris Cairns to get involved in fixing” and that he had on one occasion been threatened with a cricket bat after failing to fulfil his side of the deal.Prior to giving her evidence, Mrs Riley was given assurances by the court that she would not be charged by police for her knowledge of the money that Vincent had received for match-fixing. However, this was not part of an immunity deal for her to give evidence.She did claim, however, that Vincent had given his evidence in order to escape charges, adding that the ICC had written him “a letter to stop him from going to jail” in exchange for coming clean with the “big names”. Riley also agreed with Pownall that Vincent “hated” Cairns, because he believed he owed him money.The trial continues.

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2015

Mitchell Johnson said that Williamson’s combination of superior technique and even temperament had surprised him

Daniel Brettig at the WACA11-Nov-2015Australia’s fast bowlers underestimated Kane Williamson during the Gabba Test and have resolved not to make the same mistake a second time on what looks already to be a parched white WACA pitch.Lack of Tests between Australia and New Zealand over the past four years had one obvious drawback for the hosts, as they appeared to have missed Williamson’s emergence as one of the game’s best and brightest young batting talents.Mitchell Johnson said that Williamson’s combination of superior technique and even temperament had surprised him; a fact borne out by the freedom with which New Zealand’s No. 3 batsman was able to take Australia’s pace spearhead for runs. With the backing of what appears likely to be a decidedly rapid WACA surface, Johnson said the Australians would be keener hunters for Williamson’s wicket this time around.”It is a bit of a surprise to me the way he played – I hadn’t seen a lot of him,” Johnson said. “I knew about him [but] I didn’t realise what a good player he is. He can play all of the shots. He looked good in defence and I am really looking forward to playing him out here on a ground that I really enjoy bowling on and really test myself against him.”He is obviously in very good form and he is going to go into this game with a lot of confidence. We can bowl better to him. If we put some good balls on him and use our short ball, then I think we are going to be in the game a bit more. I think we have got a lot to improve on with our bowling. I thought we got better and better as the game went on. We didn’t start as well as we would have liked to in that first innings but I think we just got better and better.”He is definitely one who we will talk about in our team meeting today after training. He is very difficult to bowl to. If we build up enough good balls on him, he is going to be like any other player and nick off. I think it is just being a bit more patient. I think we played into his game a little bit. He is really good off the back foot as we saw and he scored some easy runs through that point region and backward point.”Another inattentive element of Australia’s Brisbane performance was a substandard fielding display. They dropped catches, including one that cost Johnson the chance to overtake Brett Lee on the list of Test wicket-takers. This will be an area for considerable work in the lead-up to Friday, as evidenced by a one-to-one session between the fielding coach Greg Blewett and Joe Burns, who dropped two chances at short-leg.”It’s disappointing at the time, especially when you’ve worked so hard on a plan, and you’re in your 30th or 40th over and you’re absolutely stuffed and a catch goes down,” Johnson said. “But look, we all drop them. I’ve dropped some simple ones and it’s not the nicest thing when you’re on the other end of it.”Something we pride ourselves on very much is our fielding, and I don’t think we fielded as well as we could have. New Zealand really did show us how it was done, just the way that they went about it, but I can’t sit here and worry about those things, otherwise I’d probably be bald.”Of less concern to Johnson and Australia was the bowling performance put in by Trent Boult, the left-armer, who was expected to do so much in the series. After recovering from back stress hot spots that afflicted him at the end of the tour of England earlier in the year, Boult looked short of rhythm and accuracy at the Gabba. Having prepared to face a more fluent Boult in Brisbane, Johnson was mindful of not relaxing against him here.”I was surprised with the way he bowled, full stop,” Johnson said. “We talked about him in our team meeting. He generally gets the ball nice and full and he has got good pace. I think in one- dayers you know you have got 10 overs and you can really go for it. He has probably been a bit underdone. He has come back from injury and he hasn’t had a lot of cricket. That was good for us that he has played the way he has.”From his point of view he wouldn’t have liked that. There was pressure on their two opening bowlers really; they are the two spearheads that they rely on so much, [Tim] Southee and Boult. Hopefully we can put that pressure on them here if Southee plays as well. He wold have been disappointed. It was certainly a surprise to us that he didn’t bowl the way he normally does so we are expecting him to bounce back and bowl well out here.”

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has taken exception to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch for the third Test between India and South Africa as “poor” and said the debate over the quality of pitches in the ongoing Test series between India and South Afr

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2015BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has taken exception to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch for the third Test between India and South Africa as “poor” and said the debate over the quality of pitches in the ongoing Test series between India and South Africa is “overhyped”. He has also expressed reservations over the views of Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president and ICC chairman, that India cannot dominate the world body by virtue of its financial clout.

Have written to MEA for permissions to play Pakistan – Thakur

Anurag Thakur was non-committal on the resumption of bilateral cricket ties between India and Pakistan and said the matter was out of the BCCI’s hands, and that India’s Ministry of External Affairs would have to issue clearances.
“We play Pakistan in World Cup events. We played them in the 2015 World Cup, we’ll play them next year in the Asia Cup,” Thakur said. “We’ll play them in March in the T20 World Cup. So when you play them in multi-national tournaments, what stops you from playing them in a bilateral series?
“Mr Shashank Manohar met the PCB chairman in Dubai and both of them decided to play in Sri Lanka. For permissions and political clearances, we have written to the Ministry of External Affairs to give us the sanction. It is their call, whenever they take it.”
Thakur’s views now are markedly different to those in August when he had all but ruled out resumption of bilateral cricketing activity between the two countries.
Thakur, who is also a member of parliament from the ruling party, the BJP, said it was a tough decision for the government to make.
“When it comes to Pakistan, it’s not that easy to take calls,” he said. “Five years ago, social media didn’t play a role. Today you see a lot of reactions on social media, but you can’t go only by social media, you have to look at the interests of the nation,” he said. “I think diplomatic relations are also very important — whether you want to remain at loggerheads or you want to sit across the table and discuss things. We have been discussing cricket, trade, terrorism, PoK and Kashmir with Pakistan.”

Speaking at the earlier in the week, Thakur reiterated the observations of India team director Ravi Shastri and Test captain Virat Kohli that there were no problems with the pitches produced for the Tests against South Africa.”I think the debate on the quality of pitches is overhyped. When a match gets over in two days – maybe in some other part of the world, like Australia in three days – nobody raises that question,” Thakur said. “But when we see a lot of drawn matches, like in the last few years, we say nobody will come and watch Test cricket.”I have a question to ask about the Nagpur match. Ask any ex-cricketer, how many players from the two teams played a bad shot? Was there uneven bounce? No. Was there more turn than expected? Yes, maybe.”What is the criterion for a good pitch and bad pitch? Was the bounce uneven, were there injuries? The ICC has sent us a letter and we will soon reply to that. But I think there is nothing wrong if a Test match finishes on the fourth day or the third day. You should also look at the batting standards. Remember how [Rahul] Dravid, [VVS] Laxman played on these kinds of tracks?”Thakur maintained there was nothing wrong in exploiting home advantage and said the preparation of turning tracks wasn’t a worrying trend.”Nobody questioned the T20 and the ODI games. What about the pitches when South Africa won?” Thakur asked. “But when India won two Test matches, you start raising questions.”In many parts of the world such as Australia and South Africa, you will see much more bounce. In England, you will see more seam and swing. So how do you compare that? In India and Pakistan, you may see more turning tracks. That is the nature of our pitches, which we call home advantage.”Thakur also clarified that Manohar’s views on the ICC’s restructuring were personal. Manohar recently said the revamp was tantamount to bullying, and that he didn’t agree with the revenue-sharing formula that guaranteed India a significant chunk of the revenue. While his thoughts were endorsed by a section of the board’s members, there has also been considerable resistance. Thakur said there was nothing wrong in India receiving a larger slice of the financial pie.”The [BCCI] president said this in his personal capacity. He made it very clear that it was his personal opinion,” he said. “The Indian subcontinent contributes close to 70% of the ICC’s revenues. To take 21% of that is not much. That was the position with Australia and England earlier, and no one objected to it then. If this happens to India today, we shouldn’t object to it.”You have to understand that India plays a very, very important role in world cricket. It’s only India which has a stadium in virtually every state. The money we have been generating in the last so many years has been spent on the ground.”Thakur also said the larger interest of BCCI’s units would have to be looked into before arriving at a decision on Manohar’s proposals, which have already received support from boards like Cricket South Africa and Sri Lanka Cricket. The BCCI, however, will be keen to not ruffle the feathers of its own units. Senior administrator and Saurashtra Cricket Association president Niranjan Shah, who is known to be close to Manohar, had advocated a “middle path”, which would strike a balance between extending a helping hand to financially weaker boards and securing the monetary rewards the BCCI deserved.”We have to look at the overall picture and individual opinions could be different,” Thakur said. “I may disagree, but the final call has to be taken by the BCCI because it is not only in the interest of one association, it is in the interest of 30 units of the BCCI.”

If what MS Dhoni says is to be gone by, another good start by the top three in the final T20I could mean no batting for Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya

Sidharth Monga29-Jan-20162:39

‘Didn’t want to play spinners in first six overs’ – Dhoni

Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya were brought into the Indian T20 side to address the lack of big hitters, but there is a good chance they might come back from Australia having contributed only with the ball and in the field. If what MS Dhoni says is to be gone by, another good start by the top three in the final T20 international could mean no batting for Yuvraj and Pandya. Dhoni said he was against experimentation even though India wrapped up the series win in Melbourne, but then again Dhoni also ruled out playing Rishi Dhawan precisely two days before he was picked in the ODI XI.The final T20I in Sydney on Sunday will be a dead rubber, and Dhoni was asked if India would go out of the way to see what potential Pandya held and what kind of form Yuvraj was in. “It is a difficult one,” Dhoni said. “Experiment word is never there with the Indian team. It is never there. Yes we want to see what Yuvraj will do in the batting, we want to see what Hardik can do, but where is the opportunity? That also we have to see.”We can’t make them open. Virat [Kohli] is batting very well at No. 3. If the partnership goes on, and if it is the 15th or the 16th over, then it is my time to come in and play the big shots. It will be difficult for them, but with a few of the games coming up maybe they will get better chances. But as I said there won’t be any experimentation. If an opportunity arises definitely they will get a chance to bat.”Yuvraj and Pandya, though, have freed Dhoni up to play around with his bowling options. After Australia got off to a good start in their chase, R Ashwin picked up a wicket to give India a sniff, but by that time India’s four main bowlers had exhausted 10 of their overs. This was a crucial period with Australia past half of their target at the halfway mark. The next two overs were bowled by Pandya and Yuvraj, and both brought a wicket each.”The strength of the piechucker [Yuvraj] is his bowling,” Dhoni joked. “He bowled really well. You need more individuals who can do more than one job in the field. Especially if all of them are good fielders, and if they can contribute with bat and ball if needed. Just adds to the strength of the side. Sometimes in T20 you need to bowl only one over, and once the captain has given you that one over, irrespective of whether it is good or bad that one over is out of the equation. That actually helps you. That one over. By the time the batsman figures out what you are trying to do you get rid of one over.”It helps us because Pandya also bowled decently well (1 for 17 in two overs). Both of them together will be very good. Not to forget we have [Suresh] Raina too. If needed he can also bowl if there are many left-handers in the opposition. Yuvi bowled really well, hit the areas, and with time he will get better and better because he is that sort of player.”Pandya has really impressed Dhoni, and might leapfrog Rishi and Stuart Binny as the seaming allrounder in ODIs too. While counting the positives from the tour, Dhoni said: “Also the performance of Hardik as a bowler. Still it will be tough for him to bowl 10 overs in an ODI game but if others are contributing a few overs here and there then we can look to have him in the side. That can strengthen our batting also and at the same time put pressure on the opposition.”It is in foreign conditions that India really need that extra seamer because the spinners become less effective, and this is where Dhoni wants the ICC, too, to stop experimenting. When asked about the luxury his spinners provide him, Dhoni said: “All of a sudden the spinners are bowling well. Not like they were bowling badly but we have to see the rule changes also. I think it is quite against the spinners. I feel they will have to do something with the rules [in ODIs]. In T20 you have the five fielders outside throughout. You have that extra fielder [as opposed to ODIs where only four fielders are allowed outside the circle until the start of the 41st over]. Let’s see how it goes.”

A match-shaping 146 by the talented teenager Matt Renshaw put Queensland in a strong position over South Australia after day one of the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2016
ScorecardMatt Renshaw struck his second first-class century on the trot and both have been big – 170 v NSW followed by 146 v SA•Getty Images

A match-shaping 146 by the talented teenager Matt Renshaw put Queensland in a strong position over South Australia after day one of the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.In a fixture that features two members of the Australian Test squad for New Zealand in Joe Burns and Chadd Sayers, neither man was able to have a major impact on proceedings. Burns reached 35 in partnership with 19-year old Renshaw before he was bowled by the left-arm spin of Tom Andrews. Further partnerships ensued between Renshaw and Chris Lynn, then Sam Heazlett capitalised on the platform he was given by spanking 75 from a mere 83 deliveries.Renshaw himself as many as seven sixes in his second consecutive first-class hundred, having compiled 170 for the Bulls against New South Wales at Mackay before the Big Bash League break. He was ultimately dismissed by Joe Mennie with the second new ball, edging through to wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman.Sayers, meanwhile, was taken for 76 runs from his 22 overs for the sole consolation of Lynn’s wicket. Mennie and Andrews claimed two wickets apiece.

Meg Lanning and Elyse Villani feasted on a toothless Sri Lanka Women attack as Australia Women revived their World T20 campaign with a nine-wicket win in Delhi

The Report by Shashank Kishore in Delhi24-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMeg Lanning formed an unbeaten 98-run stand with Elyse Villani to take Australia home•IDI/Getty Images

Meg Lanning and Elyse Villani feasted on a toothless Sri Lanka Women attack to convert a tricky chase of 124 into a cakewalk as Australia Women revived their World T20 campaign with a nine-wicket win at the Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi.The match was set up by legspinner Kristen Beams and Jess Jonassen, the left-arm spinner, who broke Sri Lanka’s back with the wickets of Dilani Manodara and Chamari Atapattu, who made 38 apiece. Then, an unbroken second-wicket stand of 98 that was studded with two belligerent half-centuries studded Australia’s dominance as they won with 14 balls to spare.Sri Lanka opted to bat, but didn’t help themselves by gifting wickets away on a platter after a platform was set by Atapattu and Manodara. The pair put together 75 off jut 61 balls as Sri Lanka’s hopes of touching 140 received a boost, before the slow bowlers, who were flat and fast to begin with, found their bearings to stem the run flow.Beams drew Manodara forward, only to deceive her in the air as a thin inside edge rattled into the stumps in the 11th over to give Australia brief respite. Then in her next over, she had Anushka Sanjeewani stumped as relief turned into delight for Australia. Atapattu’s wicket completed the collapse as Sri Lanka, motoring along at 75 for 1 hit a road block at 93 for 4.From there on, the innings was largely reduced to a struggle as the batsmen struggled to put bat to ball. Megan Schutt, was particularly impressive, as she brought out different variations of her cutters to pick up the wickets of Eshani Lokusuriyage and Prasadani Weerakkody to prevent a late onslaught. The last four overs yielded just 19 as Sri Lanka finished at least 15 short of what they looked set to get.Australia’s top order was blown away inside the first three overs in both their previous outings. But that had little bearing on their approach as Alyssa Healy and Villani came out playing shots. While Healy was bowled for 12 after being deceived by Inoka Ranaweera’s left-arm spin, Lanning threw the bowlers off guard by improvising on the face of a largely one-dimensional attack that failed to create enough opportunities.Eight boundaries in the first six overs gave Australia enough leg room to nurdle the bowling. But Lanning wasn’t in the mood for charity as she kept Australia in fourth gear throughout, displaying ability to not just bring out the big shots but also use her wrists and delicate dabs to pinch runs at every opportunity. Lanning’s effervescence seemed to rub off on Villani, whose belligerence left Sri Lanka with no answers, her fifty coming off just 36 balls, severely denting Sri Lanka’s net run-rate and with it their aspirations of a berth in the final four.