Sports
Too many cooks!
by Rex Clementine
Saturday was a disaster at Eden Park in Auckland, that iconic sports venue that has been hosting Test cricket since 1930. There have been two ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals there and a Rugby World Cup final. Eden Park is the MCG of New Zealand. The Sri Lankan team put up one of the worst batting performances in the history getting bowled out for 76 to lose by a massive 198 runs.
Remember in the last ODI that the national cricket team featured in they were shot out for 73 runs at Trivandrum in the southern Indian city to lose by a record 317 runs. That’s the worst defeat in the history of ODI cricket, not just by Sri Lanka but by any team. You wonder how the selectors survived after such a catastrophic performance.
You at least wished that they would rethink the strategy but the failed formula of basing the team on all-rounders is being continued.The idea of too many all-rounders is outdated and a failed strategy that has been long discarded by England. Sri Lankans who came up with innovate ways of playing limited overs cricket have now borrowed a leaf out of England’s book and the strategy has been recipe for disaster.
The selectors may say that Chamika Karunaratne, one of the all-rounders they backed ended up with career best figures on Saturday and yes he did but as Mr. Michael Tissera used to remind us, ‘end doesn’t justify the means’. Mr. Tissera of course was a class of his own and probably the best chief selector we had.
Both Chamika and Dasun Shanaka can not feature in the same side is an argument that most cricket enthusiasts agree on and how come the selectors don’t agree with that is the question. Surely, now that Chamika has justified his place they are not going to axe the man who won us the Asia Cup?
It is all too evident that Dasun is not a number five or a six in ODI cricket. He’s got to bat at number seven which means the top six has to be specialist batters. You can sneak in a Dhananjaya de Silva somewhere there as he gives an additional bowling option but the selectors don’t want to do that. Your all-rounder which is Dasun is at number seven and then follow your bowlers. That’s what successful Sri Lankan teams have done all these years. The current selectors are holding onto a theory of their own which has brought us nothing but disaster.
Dasun has got to bowl more if he has to remain in the ODI outfit and by not bowling he’s not doing too many favours to the team and himself.You also wonder what was the point in sending Thilina Kandamby as a specialist coach to New Zealand for the series. Can Kandamby offer you anything that Chris Silverwood can not? Or for that matter Naveed Nawaz, the batting coach.
This could be an effort to undermine Silverwood. The selectors have been doing it for sometime now. When the team won the Asia Cup, they were quick to take credit elsewhere. When things went wrong in Australia following the arrest of Danushka Gunathilaka the same selectors were doing a Pontius Pilate without owing up for their blunder of retaining an injured player.
The selectors failed policies have denied Sri Lanka a chance to automatically qualify for this year’s World Cup. Even Bangladesh and Afghanistan have gone through. This is nothing but a shame for a proud cricketing nation that won the 50 over World Cup once and reached the finals on two occasions. The current selectors flawed policies need to be kicked out together with them.
Mumbai Indians (MI) sealed their fifth consecutive win in comfortable fashion this season to climb to 12 points in ten games. It was a near-perfect day for the hosts in front of 19,000 kids as they defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the first time in a league-stage fixture.
Half-centuries from Ryan Rickelton and Suryakumar Yadav – who also became the third-fastest to 4000 IPL runs – helped them set 215 before Jasprit Bumrah‘s four-for and Trent Boult‘s three-for sealed a 54-run win.
Mayank Yadav was back in LSG colours for the first time this season. His pace had dropped but his slower ones were effective and took 2 for 40 in his four overs. Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran got starts but LSG’s middle order, including an out-of-sorts Rishabh Pant, crumbled again. The chase fizzled out with the their last six wickets falling for 26 runs.
The day began with Mayank being announced as Shardul Thakur’s replacement. He took the new ball and bowled in the mid 130-kph to early 140-kph range. The bumper he tried in the first over got spongy bounce and went above Rickelton’s head. But an overpitched ball next up was thumped down the ground.
In his next over, Mayank tested the middle of the pitch. Rohit Sharma hit two sixes with the pull, one in front of square and one behind. The response was a change in line, length and pace. It worked as Rohit reached out and sliced a slower length ball to short third.
Rickelton could’ve been run-out in the second over but Aiden Markram missed a direct hit from point. Rickelton showed his trust in the pitch as he slogged and pulled balls off a length. He drove a full toss down to take 15 off Prince Yadav’s first over. There were no other chances created in the 66-run powerplay.
Digvesh Rathi came in having not conceded a single six in the powerplay, but Rickelton slog swept him twice for two sixes over midwicket before reaching a 25-ball fifty. Rathi changed ends and bowled quicker and straighter on return. Rickelton’s tried to capitalise on the googly when it was tossed up outside off, but ended up slicing straight to point in the ninth over. He made 58.
Mayank was brought back with Suryakumar new at the crease. That didn’t work as Suryakumar launched him over his head. Jacks then got a couple of boundaries behind square both sides of the wicket. The slower balls, though, did keep the batters down and MI moved to 105 for 2 in 10 overs.
Prince’s reverse-swinging yorker then knocked Jacks over for 29. Suryakumar kept MI’s tempo going by hitting Bishnoi for a four and two sixes in the 13th over, but the 16-run over also saw the dismissal of Tilak Varma.
Suryakumar brought up his 4000th run in the IPL with a ramp off Avesh Khan and got another six off Prince over fine leg again. At 157 for 5 in 15 overs, MI were ready to launch but Mayank set them back when he dislodged Hardik’s leg stump and gave away just five runs in the 16th over. Suryakumar was then dismissed for 54 off 28 balls, but MI kept finding the boundaries.
Rathi’s off-day continued at the death as LSG continued with just five bowlers. The over started with an edged reverse sweep that went for four. It finished with 19 runs as Naman Dhir and Corbin Bosch got under the ball and launched sixes over the leg side. MI soared past 200 with an over to go. Four full tosses from Avesh in the 20th over helped MI post 215.
Aiden Markram was able to slash Boult, who started from around the wicket, through the off side for a couple of fours. Marsh then launched a flick over square leg off Deepak Chahar that nearly went out of the ground.
Bumrah was slightly lucky to get Markram as hi middled flick went straight into the hands of deep-backward square. Pooran got hold of Chahar in his third powerplay over, scything two wide yorkers for six before pulling a short ball for one more as LSG posted to 60 for 1 in six.
With Mitchell Santner out due to a finger niggle and a left-hander on the tear, Jacks was brought on ahead of Karn Sharma and he struck twice. The first ball was lobbed up in the slot but Pooran mistimed a lofted drive to long-off, where Suryakumar took a good catch.
Pant was back at No. 4 but endured another short stay at the crease. He edged a cut for four through third before miscuing a premeditated reverse sweep to Karn at short third. The wicket led to the two overs following the powerplay going for just 13 runs.
Ayush Badoni got off to a watchful start. He was on seven off seven balls before making room and and slashing Karn for two fours and a six. Marsh hit two fours off Hardik Pandya’s sole over but slowed down from 31 off 17 to 34 off 24. Hardik rang in the changes as five different bowlers were used between the eighth and 13th overs.
The asking rate rose close to 12 when Boult, on return, got Marsh with a slower ball and reduce LSG to 110 for 4. Badoni and David Miller continued the trend of the earlier partnership with Miller, the new batter, getting off to a quick start (21 off 13) while the set batter slowed down.
Badoni got away with an undetected edge in the 14th over but fell to a slower ball from Boult to end with 35 off 22 after being 30 off 15.
Bishnoi was able to launch a couple of sixes, the second of which was off Bumrah and brought out smiles and fist-pumps, but Bosch and Boult cleaned up the tail and completed MI’s 150th IPL win comprehensively.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 215 for 7 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 58, Rohit Sharma 12, Will Jacks 29, Suryakumar Yadav 54, Naman Dhir 25*, Corbin Bosch 20*; Mayank Yadav 2-40, Prince Yadav 1-44, Digvesh Rathi 1-48, Ravi Bishnoi 1-41, Avesh Khan 2-42) beat Lucknow Super Giants 161 in 20 overs (Ayush Badoni 35, Mitchell Marsh 34, Nicholas Pooran 27,David Miller 24, Ravi Bishnoi 13*; Jasprit Bumrah 4-22, Trent Boult 3-20, Will Jacks 2-18, Corbin Bosch 1-26) by 54 runs
[Cricinfo]
A tight Sneh Rana spell put in motion a collapse Sri Lanka did not recover from, losing their last nine wickets for 93 runs.
This match had been shortened to 39-overs-a-side due to morning rains, but even so, a target of 148 was never really going to test a strong India batting order. Their top three hunted efficiently, Pratika Rawal holding the chase together with 50 not out off 62 balls after Smriti Mandhana had provided a brisk start. India cruised home with nine wickets and 9.2 overs to spare.
Sri Lanka had at one point been 54 for 1, before Rana’s spell and some poor running sent the innings into a nosedive. Hasini Perera, opening the batting in place of Vishmi Gunaratne – who was not playing this game – top-scored with 30 runs. But with wickets falling frequently to the India spinners – who took seven in total – Sri Lanka never appeared to be headed to a competitive score.
Rana took 3 for 32 from her eight overs, with Deepti Sharma taking two wickets as well. Left-arm spinner N Sree Charani also struck twice in her first international match. There were four debutants in this match – two from each side – and Charani fared the best of them, the other three failing to take wickets.
It was the lbw of Hasini that kickstarted the collapse. Rana slid one into her pads, the ball likely going on to hit middle. Soon after that, a running mix-up cost Harshitha Samarawickrama her wicket, and Sri Lanka’s extremely shaky middle order was exposed.
Rana kept striking, taking two excellent return catches. The simpler of these was against Hansima Karunaratne who had come down the track only to hit the ball back to Rana who took a sharp chance at thigh height. Four overs later, she also took a low, dying chance to dismiss Nilakshika de Silva. Charani’s wickets both came from catches in the infield. Her maiden wicket, that of Kavisha Dilhari, came from a top-edged sweep.
India were dominant from the outset, with the bat. Mandhana was timing the ball particularly well, especially against Sri Lanka’s seamers. She favoured the legside in this innings, judging length quickly on a slow Khettarama deck, to pounce on the short ones. So dominant was she early on that although the score was 54 when she gave Inoka Ranaweera a return catch, she had scored 43 herself, off 46 balls.
Rawal was slower through the opening partnership, but confident nonetheless, as several of her drives suggested. Her fourth ODI half-century featured six fours, the prettiest of which was a cover drive off Dilhari in the ninth over.
Harleen Deol added another excellent score to her body of work at No. 3, where she has been batting of late. She was not out on 48 off 71 when India cruised home.
Brief scores:
India Women 149 for 1 in 29.4 overs (Pratika Rawal 50*, Harleen Deol 48*, Smriti Mandhana 43) beat Sri Lanka Women 147 in 38.1 overs (Hasini Perera 30, Kavisha Dilhari 25, Anushka Sanjeewani 22; Sneh Rana 3-31, Deepti Sharma 2-22, Shree Charani 2-26) by nine wickets
[Cricinfo]
Punjab Kings [PBKS] had to settle with just one point despite scoring 201 on a slow pitch as late-evening thunders showers washed out the chase in Kolkata. They will be disappointed for they had done the hard work on a pitch whose consensus reading was “very, very slow”. The one point moved PBKS to No. 4 on the points table while the lagging Kolkata Knight Riders rose to No. 7 with seven points from nine matches.
Outside the frustration of not getting the win, PBKS will be pleased with their openers, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimrn Singhe, whose half-centuries took them to the daunting total in tough conditions. Especially how they scored the runs. They were almost obsessed with not over-hitting, holding their shape and relying more on their timing, adding 120 for the first wicket, PBKS’ only century stand this IPL. Arya scored 69 off 35, Prabhsimran 83 off 49, and even though the last six overs produced only 42, PBKS were confident they had scored an above-par total.
On the slow track with grip available for those bowling into the pitch, PBKS took 74 off the eight overs of spin between Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. Even Harshit Rana, KKR’s slower-ball specialist, was allowed to bowl only two overs for 27 runs.
Arya, in particular, was clever in his targeting of the bowlers. He took 50 off 20 balls of pace, and just 19 off 15 balls of spin. Prabhsimran took the spinners on, taking 41 off 22 balls bowled by them. Both of them were measured in the first couple of overs, getting used to the pace in the pitch, before targeting the pace bowlers. Arya preferred timing – his first four fours were driven between mid-off and cover – and Prabshimran struggled early, getting to only 34 off 32 at one point.
With an audacious switch-hit six off Narine, Prabhsimran turned his innings around, in the process consigning Narine to a 22-run over. His worst has been 23 in all T20 cricket. Prabhsimran scored 49 off the last 17 balls he faced; Shreyas Iyer managed only five in a 40-run stand with him.
That the death overs were not easy to hit only encouraged PBKS. Andre Russell managed reverse-swing, Narine and Varun conceded just 13 in their final overs, and Vaibhav Arora drew purchase when he bowled slower balls. PBKS were confident there wouldn’t be much dew either, but we never could find out.
Scores:
Punjab Kings 201 for 4 (Prabhsimran Singhe 83, Priyansh Arya 69, Vaibhav Arora 2-34, Varun Chakravarthy 1-39, Andre Russel 1-27) vs Kolkata Knight Riders 7 for 0 in 1 over Match abandoned
[Cricinfo]
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