Sports
Saumy Pandey leads India to victory; England ease past Scotland
Bangladesh Under-19s, who had beaten India Under-19s in the Asia Cup in December last year, threatened to cause another stir when left-arm seamer Maruf Mridha took five wickets in the Under-19 World Cup in Bloemfontein. Maruf’s strikes kept India to 251 for 7, but Saumy Pandey trumped Maruf with 4 for 24 and bowled his team to victory.
Musheer Khan the younger brother of Sarfaraz Khan, pitched in with two wickets, including that of Mohammed Shihab James who top-scored for Bangladesh with 54 off 77 balls. The rest of the batters collapsed around James as Bangladesh were bowled out for 167 in 45.5 overs. Musheer also effected a direct-hit to sink Bangladesh. Pandey was the most economical bowler on the day, conceding just 2.44 an over.
Earlier in the day, India’s innings was built around half-centuries from opener Adarsh Singh (76 off 96) and captain Uday Saharan (64 off 94). Aravelly Avinash (23 off 17), who was picked by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2024 auction, and Sachin Dhas (26 off 20) then gave the innings some late impetus.
Brief scores:
India Under-19s 251 for 7 in 50 overs (Adarsh Singh 76, Uday Saharan 64, Aravelly Avinash 23, Priyanshu Moliya 23, Sachin Dhas 26*; Maruf Mridha 5-43) beat Bangladesh Under-19s 167 in 45.5 overs (Mohammad Shihab James 54, Ariful Islam 41; Saumy Pandey 4-24, Musheer Khan 2-35) by 84 runs
Ubaid Shah the younger brother of Naseem Shah, and Mohammad Zeeshan who has been part of Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL, took seven wickets between them to skittle Afghanistan Under-19s for 103 in their chase of 285 in East London.
Opener batting Shahzaib Khan had laid the platform for Pakistan Under-19s’ 181-run victory with 106 off 126 balls. His knock contained ten fours and three sixes. He added 92 for the third wicket with Saad Baig, who hit 55 off 52 balls, to set Pakistan up for a big total. Khalil Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan, returning 4 for 51 in his ten overs.
Pakistan’s total looked even bigger when Ubaid and Zeeshan ripped through Afghanistan’s top and middle orders. Wicketkeeper-batter Numan Shah was the only Afghanistan batter to pass 25 in the chase. Amir Hassan and Ahmed Hussain picked up a wicket each as Pakistan bundled Afghanistan out in 26.2 overs.
England Under-19s enjoyed a winning start to the Under-19 World Cup, easing past Scotland Under-19s in Potch
Luc Benkenstein the son of former South Africa international Dale, sealed the victory with an unbeaten cameo after setting it up for England with a three-wicket haul. Farban Ahmed who is the brother of England international Rehan, also bagged a three-wicket haul to help England dismiss Scotland for 174.
Captain Ben McKinney then hit 88 off 68 balls to rush his side to victory, with seven wickets and 142 balls to spare. He forged a 106-run partnership for the first wicket with Jaydn Denly, who made 40 off 50 balls.
After Scotland were asked to bat first, they never got going and lost wickets in clusters. They didn’t even have a single half-century stand in their entire innings. Owen Gould top-scored for them with 48 off 61 balls, including five fours and a six. The other nine batters scored a combined five boundaries. Harry Armstrong was absent hurt for Scotland.
Brief scores:
England Under-19s 178 for 3 in 26.2 overs (Ben McKinney 88, Jaydn Denly 40; Ibrahim Faisal 2-30) beat Scotland Under-19s 174 in 49.2 overs (Owen Gould 48,Jamie Dunk 40; Farhan Ahmed 3-22, Luc Benkenstein 3-41) by seven wickets
(Cricinfo)
Ganuka Fernando accomplished a rare feat reaching the final of the Nepal J30 ITF tournament in Pokohora. He became the first Sri Lankan male player in more than a decade to reach an overseas final at the tournament held in Nepal.
The St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya player finished as the runner up.
He is the first to reach an overseas ITF final after Sharmal Dissanayake accomplished the feat in 2013.
Sharmal has the credit of winning ITF tournaments in India and in Brunei. He also reached another final in India.
After nearly three months of competition, the 33rd Mercantile Services Basketball League concluded with Seylan Bank being crowned as undisputed champions. The defending champions showcased their dominance with an unbeaten record cruising past all their opponents.
Seylan Bank started off the campaign by beating Hatton National Bank in a three point thriller with the final score being 58-55. They overcame Commercial Credit 59-47 and had a big win over David Pieris Motor Company 73-59.
In the semi-final, Seylan Bank overcame Commercial Credit by 13 points while the final was a rematch against David Pieris Motor Company and won comfortably by Seylan.
Epciba Washington Clay of Seylan was named the Most Valuable Player.
The Seylan Bank side comprised; Kamalene Mills, Kunchana Wijesiriwardena, Kindu Jayaliya, Benika Thalagala, Epciba Washington Clay, Hansini Maleesha, Nihari Perera, Sanduni Bollegala, Maleka Rafaideen, Bethani Liyanage and Malavika Ariyaratne.
The Seylan Bank team was coached by Chathura Rodrigo.
New Zealand’s bowling spearhead Matt Henry (calf strain), seam-bowling allrounder Nathan Smith (side strain) and spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner (groin injury) have all been ruled out of the rest of the home Test series against West Indies.
Glenn Phillips, who joined the squad in Christchurch early as a substitute fielder, has officially been added to the Test squad for the remainder of the series, New Zealand Cricket confirmed. This after he proved his match fitness in the Plunket Shield before joining the squad for the first Test, and he could be in contention to be selected in the XI for the second Test.
In another bit of good news for New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell, who put in a long shift as a substitute fielder in the first Test, is set to be available for the second and slot back in as their middle-order mainstay.
Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell had already been sidelined from the second Test in Wellington after suffering a hamstring injury while batting on day one in Christchurch. Mitchell Hay has been added to the squad and could make his Test debut.
Also, a day after uncapped seamer Michael Rae was called up to the Test squad, Kristan Clarke, a seam-bowling allrounder from Northern Districts, was added to it. With Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke managing “return to play” protocols, New Zealand were left scrambling for last-minute replacements, with the Wellington Test set to begin on November 10.
Both Rae and Clarke were pulled out of the third round of the Plunket Shield. Clarke didn’t bowl for ND in the final innings against Otago in Hamilton, with rookie James Naylor stepping in as his replacement.
Clarke, 24, is uncapped in Test cricket, but was recently part of the ODI series against England as a replacement player after Henry had suffered a separate calf injury. He has now earned his maiden Test call-up as a like-for-like replacement for Smith.
“On the cricket field, I’m a bowling allrounder, you know, and I pride myself on trying to offer as much as I can in the game,” Clarke said in October after breaking into the ODI side. “I just want to be a good person around the group also and just offer as much as I can.”
Clarke has played 27 first-class games so far, taking 77 wickets at an average of 33 and scoring 893 runs at an average of 23.50. He was also part of a New Zealand A tour to Bangladesh during the winter. Though bowling is his primary skill, Kristian is also a capable batter and had notched up his maiden century in senior cricket, against Central Districts in the one-day Ford Trophy, in October.
Clarke hails from Te Awamutu, a small town in the Waikato region and played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup before rising up the ranks in New Zealand cricket. His brother Matti Clarke has also played for Waikato Valley in the Hawke Cup.
“Yeah, so [I was] born and raised in Te Awamutu, [and I] still live in Te Awamutu, still at home,” Clarke said. “I hold Te Amuru very dear to my heart – it’s a cool little town and yeah, quiet little place. Just sort of grew up through the cricket system there and then yeah, sort of just went from there.”
While Blair Tickner, who was the reserve seamer at Hagley Oval, comes into the selection frame for Wellington, there might be a toss-up between Rae and Clarke for a potential Test debut at Basin Reserve.
The first Test was drawn after West Indies, faced with a 530-run deficit in the fourth innings, held on for 163.3 overs to pull off a draw, with Justin Greaves (202 not out) and Shai Hope (140) their main men with the bat
New Zealand squad for second Test vs West Indies :
Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Zak Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner, Michael Rae, Kristian Clarke
[Cricinfo]
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