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ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran18-May-2012

Match facts

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Adam Gilchrist wasted no time in finding his rhythm after an injury layoff•AFP

Big Picture

Kings XI Punjab’s sternest test has been left for last. They came into their final two games needing to win both, first against the defending champions and then this year’s form team, to have any chance of progressing to the playoffs. They duly trampled Chennai Super Kings in Dharamsala to remain in contention, and will need to repeat the performance against Delhi Daredevils on Saturday. Even if they do, they will have to hope for a couple of other results to go their way, to secure their place in the final four.Getting past Daredevils, needless to say, will be a tough proposition. The teams met on Tuesday for the first time, with Daredevils securing an easy five-wicket win. Kings XI did well to pick up four early wickets to give themselves a fighting chance of defending 136, but in the final analysis, their batsmen let them down. They turned it around against Super Kings with a fine bowling effort in seaming conditions. Kings XI’s ground fielding, though, wasn’t impressive.Daredevils fell short by 21 runs in a high-scorer at the Feroz Shah Kotla against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Their bowlers had a tough outing, taking just one wicket and leaking 215. Virender Sehwag sat out due to an illness and Morne Morkel was rested. Their return for the final league match is uncertain. Daredevils can still experiment, considering they’re already through to the playoffs and have made sure they’ll have the added benefit of finishing in the top two. Daredevils’ batting looked vulnerable in spicier bowling conditions in Chennai recently. Dharamsala may not give them much respite.

Form guide

Kings XI Punjab: WLWWL (most recent first, completed games)
Delhi Daredevils: LWLWL

Players to watch

Adam Gilchrist had to sit out nine matches to allow his torn hamstring to heal. The wait was worth it as he hammered an unbeaten 64 against Super Kings to pilot Kings XI’s chase, and there were no signs of rustiness as he brought out his trademark cuts and slogs.It had been a sleepy tournament for Ross Taylor until his aggressive 55 off 26 balls at the Kotla against Royal Challengers. Taylor was the only half-centurion for Daredevils in their chase of 216 and his wicket turned out to be the most prized of the evening. His return to form has strengthened Daredevils’ middle-order, which had seemed in dodgy form after Kevin Pietersen’s departure.

Stats and trivia

• Daredevils have the second-best strike-rate this season: 132.35, behind only Royal Challengers Bangalore
• Kings XI’s current leading run-scorer and wicket-taker are Indian players: Mandeep Singh (432 runs) and Parvinder Awana (17 wickets)
  

  Quotes

  “We are underdogs, and we have still managed to beat all the big teams. We always believed in our game and played hard cricket.

Andrew Strauss promised that he would allow himself to celebrate with a “little glass of something” after his first Test hundred for 18 months

David Hopps18-May-2012Andrew Strauss promised that he would allow himself to celebrate with a “little glass of something” after his first Test hundred for 18 months ended concerns about his faltering batting form as England captain.”You feel like you want to take the monkey off your back and contribute to the team – that’s the most important thing,” he said on Sky Sports. “It was a great feeling. It was quite tortuous getting the final 20 runs but I suppose that makes it all the more rewarding. I had to dig pretty deep.”Strauss’ home crowd were jubilant as he made his fifth Test hundred at Lord’s. “It was a very special ovation,” he said. “It went on and on. It was slightly emotional. I have felt good in the preparation to this game but you still have to go out there and do it. It is a great feeling tonight to know that that I have got a few.”England finished the second day of the first Test against the West Indies on 259 for 3, 16 ahead, and Strauss, his authority again unquestioned as the captain who has led England to the No. 1 Test ranking and home and away Ashes triumphs, will resume on 121 not out on the third morning.”I think my hundred on debut at Lord’s was probably more important but it’s been a while so it’s probably one of the more special ones,” he said. “I love batting here. It is the home of cricket and the ground by which every other ground is measured. I may have a little glass of something tonight.”Strauss had no complaints about the scrutiny that has built up around his modest batting form since his last hundred, against Australia in Brisbane in November 2010. “It is what it is. It becomes the talking point and until you get runs it remains the talking point. That’s just how it is. It is enjoyable to get the hundred and now I can flick it to someone else.”He also had praise for the England team-mates who have stood by him. “We stick together and when one guy is under the pump a bit we are delighted when he comes through,” he said.

Derbyshire put a significant dent in Lancashire’s hopes of qualifying for the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals by claiming a three-wicket win with seven balls to spare at Old Trafford

01-Jul-2012
ScorecardWes Durston’s half-century helped steer Derbyshire home•Getty Images

Derbyshire put a significant dent in Lancashire’s hopes of qualifying for the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals by claiming a three-wicket win with seven balls to spare at Old Trafford. Derbyshire came out on top on a slow pitch to secure victory for only the second time in the North Division, the first of those also being against Lancashire – who may now have to win their last three matches to qualify.Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan led the way with 3 for 20, including two wickets in the penultimate over of the innings, as the hosts could only post 122 for 8.Man of the match Wes Durston then hit three sixes in four balls off Steven Croft in the third over to break the back of their chase. Having earlier taken 2 for 16 from four overs of off-spin, Durston, the former Somerset man, also hit five fours in a score of 56 off 36 balls.Lancashire’s spin duo of Gary Keedy (2 for 20) and Stephen Parry also impressed to make the contest tighter than it could have been before Rana hit the winning run.Invited to bat, Lancashire failed to recover from losing Stephen Moore to the second legitimate ball of the match, stumped by Tom Poynton off Durston. Croft and Tom Smith shared 54 in eight and a half overs for the second wicket but that was as good as it got. Croft top-scored with 48 off 46 balls, including three fours and a six. Lancashire only hit five fours and a six in the innings, all of those coming in the first five overs.When Durston had Croft caught at short fine-leg via a top-edged sweep, the hosts were 78 for 4 in the 14th over. Paul Horton added 27 off 26 balls but even that failed to add any impetus to the innings.Fledgling left-arm spinner Tom Knight impressed with 1 for 13 from three overs and Tim Groenewald picked up two wickets at the death. Rana bowled Smith with a slower ball before getting Yasir Arafat caught at mid-off and Glen Chapple trapped lbw in the 19th over. Durston then capitalised on seeing opening partner Usman Khawaja dropped on 4 by Moore at cover off Croft by taking a liking to the same bowler.He brought up his fifty off just 24 balls, also including five fours, but was stumped by Gareth Cross off Keedy to leave the score at 76 for 1 in the 10th over, in which Keedy also bowled Khawaja (15). Parry conceded only 11 runs from four overs before Croft, Arafat and Chapple all struck consolatory blows, although they were not enough to prevent Derbyshire reaching 124 for 7.

Former Pakistan fast bowler and coach Waqar Younis has been confirmed as the coach for the Ruhuna side for the inaugural season of Sri Lanka Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2012Former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis has been confirmed as the coach for the Ruhuna franchise for the inaugural season of Sri Lanka Premier League, according to the organisers Somerset Entertainment Ventures Ltd. Other notable appointments include former Sri Lanka captain Duleep Mendis and Australians Tom Moody and Trevor Bayliss.”Waqar [Younis] is one of six appointments that have been finalised regarding the coaching positions, with only Kandurata province yet to finalise who their coach will be,” Sandeep Bhammer, chief executive of Somerset Entertainment Ventures Ltd, told . “We have a couple of local appointments, with Duleep Mendis coaching Basnahira and Naveed Nawaz will be head coach for Uva.”In addition, and to add to the international flavour of the tournament, Australian’s Shane Duff will be the head coach for Nagenahira, Tom Moody will coach Utuhura and Trevor Bayliss has been appointed as head coach for Wayamba.”The squads for the seven franchises were announced on July 6. A total of 56 overseas players and 107 local players are part of the squads, giving each franchise a preliminary list of 24 players. The tournament is scheduled to start on August 10.

Both the Derbyshire and the South African attacks conceded heavily as over 400 runs were scored and only five wickets taken in the day

Firdose Moonda at Derby10-Aug-2012
ScorecardAB de Villiers made a rapid 97 after the South Africans were asked to bat•Getty Images

It was a struggle for the bowlers at the County Ground in Derby, despite the green pitch, as both the Derbyshire and the South African attacks conceded heavily. Over 400 runs were scored and only five wickets taken on a day that belonged to batsmen.The South Africans declared after posting 365 runs and having given most of their middle order and some of the fringe players a bat. Unlike the tour match against Worcestershire, they did not give their bowlers time in the middle on this occasion.AB de Villiers was the standout performer for the South Africans and retired three runs short of a century. Hashim Amla laid the foundations with a sprightly 42 and JP Duminy contributed with 69, while Faf du Plessis came good in his first appearance in whites for the national side with an undefeated 68 and Albie Morkel weighed in with 49 not out.In response, Debyshire’s South Africa-born opener Wayne Madsen and Australia’s Usman Khawaja reached the close having seen off South Africa’s new-ball attack and tucked into some of the more wayward change bowlers. The only wicket to fall on the hosts’ side was that of Matt Lineker, who got a thin outside edge off Vernon Philander’s bowling and was caught by back-up gloveman Thami Tsolekile.Jacques Rudolph was the only South Africa batsman to miss out. After three confident boundaries and despite looking comfortable he fell to Alasdair Evans in the fourth over. Amla, who opened the batting in Alviro Petersen’s absence and in place of Graeme Smith, despite the captain being declared fit, faced 20 balls without scoring before lashing out.He took 16 runs off Evans’ fifth over, starting with a drive through the covers, then a pull behind square and ending with a straight drive. The sleeping giant had woken up.Amla also hit the first six of the South Africans’ innings, a pull over fine leg, and looked in imperious form. Against the run of play, however, he was bowled when he pushed forward to a straight delivery from Ross Whiteley and missed the ball, ending a stand of 54 to which Duminy had contributed nine runs.Duminy pushed on with de Villiers on the other end. He brought out the cut, to open his boundary account after 43 balls, while de Villiers had much of his range on display. With an array of spectacular driving, he took 13 runs off a Whiteley over and 11 off the following one from David Wainwright to overtake Duminy and bring up his half-century before lunch, off 46 balls.The interval did nothing to slow de Villiers, who began the second session with a six over fine leg. He played a chanceless innings and provided a perfect foil to Duminy, who found it tougher to adjust to the conditions. He was circumspect against the seamers, Mark Footitt and Matt Higginbottom, but found run-scoring easier against the left-arm spin of Wainwright.De Villiers marched towards a century but called time on his innings three runs before, allowing du Plessis to bat for the first time on tour. Shortly after, Duminy offered a tame return catch to Wainwright.Albie Morkel and du Plessis kept the run-rate above five an over and although both are unlikely to feature in the Test starting XI, made strong cases for themselves. The South Africans had accumulated over 300 runs before tea and batted for less than an hour after before deciding to give the bowlers a run.Dale Steyn did not bowl but all the other bowlers took part. Petersen is the only member of the South African squad who will not play in the match, as he still needs at least four days to recover from a grade one strain of the right hamstring. Both Smith and Jacques Kallis, who was suffering from lower-back spasms, were named in South Africa’s 15.The South African players wore black armbands to mourn the death of Titans CEO Elise Lombard, who died yesterday.

England coach Andy Flower has admitted South Africa were the better side during the three-Test series, says England hadn’t “grasped the opportunities that came our way”

George Dobell22-Aug-2012Just as few recall the somewhat controversial catch that sealed the 2005 Ashes Test at Edgbaston and turned the series England’s way, so history may not record the key moments that allowed South Africa to take control of the 2012 Test series against England.Few dispute that they deserved to win the series and few dispute that England, with six losses in 11 Test in 2012 and one series win in four, have no place on top of the Test rankings. As England coach, Andy Flower, put it: “We have been beaten by a slightly better side in this series. I think that’s fair to say.”The disappointment from an England perspective was that they failed to do themselves justice. They dropped nine catches, gave wickets away cheaply and failed to trouble South Africa’s batsmen with medium-paced fare.The failure of England’s bowling attack is most worrying. The bowlers have impressed in all conditions in Tests since the Ashes of 2009 – even in the UAE last winter, they performed well only to be let down by poor batting from their colleagues. The series against South Africa – and the drubbing at The Oval in particular – was an abrupt departure from the norm.While South Africa batted with impressive skill and dedication, England also failed to take chances that might have altered the series. Hashim Amla was dropped before he reached 50 on the way to his triple-hundred at The Oval and before he had reached 10 at Lord’s; Alviro Petersen was dropped before he had reached 30 in his 182 at Leeds. Had such chances been taken, England’s ugly bowling averages may be a good deal prettier.”We had our chances,” Flower said. “At Lord’s we dropped two crucial catches. They’ve caught well in the slip area but I think their bowling attack was a little bit more incisive than ours. I don’t think that’s unfair on our bowlers to say that.”Their batsmen cashed in and got the big, match-turning innings. Yes, with the assistance of a dropped catch here and there from us. But in the main they deserved to win. We haven’t grasped the opportunities that came our way. And, against a good, hardened, experienced side like South Africa, you’ll suffer the consequences of that.”England are taking steps to improve the bowling. Stuart Broad has been omitted from the ODI series against South Africa not just for rest but to undergo some strength and conditioning work, which England hope will enable him to recover his nip. “We don’t often get windows with the guys that play all three forms of the game to do conditioning work,” Flower said. “Broad, we believe, needs a rest; or a combination of rest and strength work.”Tim Bresnan, James Anderson and, at Leeds anyway, Steven Finn also appeared somewhat jaded. In the longer term, it may be that England need to accept that the burden they have placed on their players – an international schedule that offers little time for mental or physical recovery – is the biggest obstacle to consistently performing at their best.Flower also suggested a decision on Andrew Strauss’ future as England captain will be left to the man himself.”Andrew is a bit drained,” Flower said. “It’s been a hard series for him. Obviously he’s been a superb leader for us, but he would have wanted to score more runs and that has a wearing effect. And then these peripheral issues have taken a lot of his energy and his enjoyment out of the last few weeks.”I think he’s done the right thing to get away for a few days with his family so he can recuperate. He’s a strong bloke and he’ll come back feeling very strong.”England’s attempt to regain the No. 1 ranking will begin with a four-Test series in India, where their record is not promising. The team is set to be weakened not only by the absence of Kevin Pietersen but also by the departure of players at various parts of the tour on paternity leave. Flower hopes, however, that the lessons learned in the UAE and the emergence of several promising young players can help England recover lost ground.”We will definitely be plotting our challenge,” Flower said. “We want to get back there. We’ve got a tough outing first up in India, but that’ll be exciting. It’ll be exciting to see if we’ve actually embedded some of the lessons we’ve learned in the UAE, because no doubt we’ll be playing on spinning pitches.”Jonny Bairstow handled the situation well. The skill, timing and courage he showed was outstanding. James Taylor has handled himself calmly as well. We’ll make our decisions based on what is best for the England side and not be scared to do so.”

Durham will start next season with point deductions in all three competitions after breaching the salary cap in English domestic cricket.

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2012Durham will start next season with point deductions in all three competitions after breaching the salary cap in English domestic cricket.Counties are not allowed to pay their staff more than £1.8million in total and Durham exceeded this level, although by less than 2%. The result, apart from a £2500 fine, is a 2.5 point deduction in the Championship and a quarter of a point in both the CB40 and Friends Life t20.Durham notified the ECB as soon as they were aware of the issue and their co-operation throughout was taken into account in the final judgement.”The tribunal concluded that the sanctions in accordance with the regulations should reflect the fact that it was Durham who notified the ECB of the breach and Durham had co-operated fully and openly,” an ECB statement said.”Durham had admitted a category one breach of the regulations which state that a county should not pay its players in total more than £1.8 million a year. A category one breach is the lowest of the five categories of breach under the team salary payment regulations which apply to all 18 first-class counties and were introduced by ECB in 2010.”In a separate statement, Durham said: “In its submission to the ECB Durham explained the difficulties faced by counties who wish to remain competitive in all competitions and produce players for England.”In particular the lack of certainty relating to players in the England system means that it is impossible to have absolute certainty around the final salary bill.”

A century from Chris Hartley put Queensland on the path towards victory on the third day against South Australia in Brisbane, where Phillip Hughes was again carrying the batting load for the Redbacks

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2012
ScorecardChris Hartley scored his seventh first-class hundred•Getty Images

A century from Chris Hartley put Queensland on the path towards victory on the third day against South Australia in Brisbane, where Phillip Hughes was again carrying the batting load for the Redbacks. At stumps, South Australia were 2 for 111 in their chase of 463, with Hughes unbeaten on 58 and Callum Ferguson on 31, and they needed something special to avoid opening their season with a defeat.The Bulls had removed Michael Klinger for 6 and Tom Cooper for 11 after Queensland declared at 8 for 248, a total made possible by Hartley’s seventh first-class hundred. His innings was especially impressive given that he came to the crease at 5 for 64, although by that stage Queensland already had a commanding lead, having declined the option of enforcing the follow-on.Hartley finished unbeaten on 103 from 107 balls, supported in the later stages by the first-innings centurion Ben Cutting, who made 33. Chadd Sayers and Joe Mennie picked up three wickets each but it was another day that the South Australians would prefer to forget, after they began the morning by losing their last three wickets for 20 runs.Hughes had started the day on 95 not out but didn’t add to his score and was caught at slip off the bowling of James Hopes from the first over of the day. Hopes finished with 5 for 27 from his 20 overs.