Sports
Seifert, Phillips and Chapman counter Bairstow’s fireworks to seal New Zealand win
New Zealand squared the four-match T20I series by chasing down 176 with relative ease at Trent Bridge. They got ahead of the game by belting 73 runs in the Powerplay, with Tim Seifert nailing 48 in his 50th T20I, then stayed there thanks to Glenn Phillips and Mark Chapman.
England had started brightly themselves, with Jonny Bairstow crunching six sixes in his 73 off 41. But their innings fell away after his dismissal, as New Zealand’s three spinners squeezed in the middle overs; England’s total looked a little light at a venue with notoriously short boundaries, and so it proved.
This was due to be a five-match series before three ODIs, but the fifth T20I was quietly converted into a 50-over game last year with an eye on the World Cup. As a result, this was not quite a decider – and it felt decidedly low-key, with Jos Buttler opting to rest himself ahead of greater tests to come.
Yet it served as more valuable preparation for New Zealand, who recovered from an abject start to the series to share the trophy. Friday’s first ODI in Cardiff marks the start of the more relevant part of their tour, but this was a clinical victory under the Nottingham floodlights all the same.
Finn Allen played in the only way he knows how, smoking three of his first four balls for four before losing his off stump when attempting to smear Luke Wood across the line. His six-ball 16 was only a cameo, but ensured that New Zealand were ahead of the required rate throughout the chase.
Promoted to open, Seifert was brutish. He camped on the back foot, lofting England’s seamers back down the ground with mid-off inside the ring, and crunched Adil Rashid for two fours and a six in the fifth over. Daryl Mitchell was run out shortly after the Powerplay, taking on Wood in the deep, but New Zealand were in control.
Rehan Ahmed, playing his first international game at home – and in the city he grew up in – bowled tidily for his 2 for 27, having Seifert caught-and-bowled and Phillips caught in the deep, but Phillips had crunched Moeen Ali, Rashid and Brydon Carse in between times for his 42 off 25.
The rate was down to a run a ball by the time Phillips holed out, and Chapman finished the job in style, cruising to 40 not out off 25 balls. Rachin Ravindra cut the winning boundary through the infield, with Wood misfielding at cover to sum up England’s disappointing night.
After four quiet games for Welsh Fire in the Hundred, Bairstow has roared back to form in this series. He top-scored in England’s win in Manchester, batting through the innings for 86, and raced to 47 off 22 after five overs after Moeen chose to bat.
This was Bairstow’s first innings at Trent Bridge since his 136 off 92 in a Test against the same opposition last year, the knock that secured his status as Bazball’s standard-bearer. His first two boundaries – short-arm jabs for four and six off Matt Henry – were reminiscent of that century, and he swiped 17 runs off Kyle Jamieson’s first over as England raced to 63 for 0 after six.
Bairstow was the only England batter to score freely against spin through the middle, crunching both left-arm spinners – Ravindra and Mitchell Santer – for six, though holed out to long-on immediately after the second. He was due to keep wicket in the run chase, though handed over to Buttler after experiencing shoulder pain while batting; he later played down the severity of the injury.
Bairstow apart, England’s batting line-up floundered against spin for the second game running. Ish Sodhi was not at his best but Will Jacks edged him behind after a fourth consecutive unconverted cameo, before Harry Brook hoicked his drag-down to deep backward square leg for 4 off 8 balls.
Neither Dawid Malan nor Liam Livingstone looked at their best in making 26 apiece, and Santner claimed two wickets in his fourth over – Malan and Moeen caught in the deep on the leg side – to finish with 3 for 30. Ravindra, playing ahead of the rested Devon Conway, had Sam Curran caught at wide long-on, and the three spinners finished with combined figures of 6 for 68 in 10 overs.
When Henry closed things out with a superb final over, which culminated in Livingstone drilling his wide yorker straight to extra cover, England had fallen some way short of the total they had lined up. It did not take long for New Zealand’s top order to underline that their 175 was under-par.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 179 for 4 (Seifert 48, Phillips 42, Chapman 40*) beat England 175 for 8 (Bairstow 73, Santner 3-30) by six wickets
(Cricinfo)
India defended 276 – their third highest-score against South Africa – in dramatic fashion to record successive wins in the Sri Lanka tri-series. South Africa were fairly comfortable on 170 for 2 after 33 overs chasing 277 and Tazmin Britts had scored her third ODI hundred and was anchoring their effort. With the required run-rate a touch above six an over, Brits retired hurt with cramp and that sent South Africa into freefall. They lost eight wickets for 80 runs, including three in an over to Sneh Rana, who finished with career-best figures of 5 for 43, and fell short by 15 runs.
Brits’ need to leave the field to seek medical assessment was one reason South Africa lost their tri-series opener but there were several others. Pratika Rawal’s 78 – her fifth successive fifty-plus score in the format which also made her the fastest to 500 runs in ODIs – set India up well and twin 41s from Harman preet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues and a 14-ball 24 from Richa Ghosh helped India score 82 runs in the last ten overs. Their total was helped to balloon beyond South Africa’s reach thanks to 13 wides they sent down. India, for comparison, only bowled two wides and a no-ball.
Overall, India’s ground fielding was sharper, though they put down three catches which included Brits’ twice, and their spinners controlled the middle period well. Rana and Deepti Sharma conceded 83 runs between them in their 20 overs while Shree Charani bowled ten overs with figures of 1 for 51.
After India cruised past Sri Lanka in the series opener, they were challenged by a South African side who have not played together for more than four months and looked rusty, especially against Smriti Mandhana and Rawal. The pair put on 83 for the opening stand, with Mandhana initially taking most of the strike and playing the aggressor role while Rawal eased herself in. South Africa started to rein them in and gave away no boundaries between the tenth and 18th over – by which point they had used five different bowlers – and then brought Annerie Dercksen on to try and get a breakthrough.
She benefited from the pressure her colleagues had created. After delivering two wides in her first four balls, Dercksen went short, down leg, Mandhana followed and gloved the chance to Karabo Meso, who took her first ODI catch. Dercksen’s over was still poor as she conceded 19 runs, including five wides and the six over deep mid-wicket that got Rawal to fifty.
Rawal was given a life when she was on 71 and flicked Masabata Klaas to deep square leg, where Chloe Tryon ran to her right to get to the ball but could not hold on. South Africa then thought they had run Harleen Deol out off the next ball when Meso flicked the bail off and Deol seemed short of her ground but the third umpire disagreed. Just as South Africa may have wondered where another wicket would come from, Mlaba ended their frustration with a double strike. In the 31st over, she bowled Rawal with a beauty that dipped and turned past the outside edge to hit offstump and in the 33rd, drew Deol forward to bowl her with a full ball.
Harmanpreet, batting for the first time in ODIs this year, should have been caught at deep cover when she sliced Nadine de Klerk to Lara Goodall but was put down on 4. Despite the miss, South Africa squeezed hard and India were unable to find the boundary for ten overs, until Dercksen returned. She continued to struggle with her lengths and conceded 17 off her second over as India entered the final ten on 195 for 3.
Rodrigues and Harmanpreet’s stand grew to fifty and Rodrigues was playing her shots but when she tried to scoop Klaas over fine leg, only managed to find Ayabonga Khaka at 45. Ghosh played an aggressive cameo and scored 24 runs off the 14 balls she faced and India plundered 82 runs in the last ten overs, including nine fours and a six.
By the time South Africa got to the last ten overs of their innings, they needed 81 runs and had seven wickets in hand. Brits had retired by then in what has been called extreme heat even by Colombo standards but would have felt she’d set her team-mates up well. She dominated the 140-run opening stand with Laura Wolvaardt – South Africa’s second highest for the first wicket – and scored 90 runs off 93 balls to Wolvaardt’s 43 off 75. Brits was also put down twice, on 51 by Deepti off her own bowling and 67 by Harmanpreet at mid-off. Deepti was eventually rewarded when Wolvaardt was hit on the pads as she tried to work her into the legside and given out lbw which allowed India to start to claw their way back.
Goodall, playing in place of the injured Anneke Bosch, played all around a Rana arm ball and was bowled but with Brits still there, South Africa seemed in control. She reached her hundred off the 103rd ball she faced and then blasted two fours in the same over but after the second, could not continue. Her partner at the time was 17-year old Meso, who suddenly found herself with a big job.
Meso was on 7 off 17 balls when she tried to hit Arundhati Reddy through the off-side but played on which brought the experienced pair of Sune Luus and Tryon together. The required run-rate had climbed over seven. Luus was dropped in the 41st over when she gave Reddy a knee-height chance in her follow through but then holed out to deep mid-wicket in the next over. South Africa needed 70 off 50 balls. Tryon and Dercksen got that down to 41 off 30 before Tryon chipped Rana to midwicket in her penultimate over. Rana’s last over was the one South Africa had to survive.
Instead, de Klerk was bowled trying to sweep off the second ball, Dercksen mistimed a slog sweep to deep square leg and Brits came out again only to hand Rana a return catch and end South Africa’s hopes. They went from 249 for 5 to 252 for 8 and had no recognised batters left. Their last two batters were run-out as India sealed the win with four balls to spare and cemented themselves at the top of the points table.
Brief scores:
India Women 276 for 6 in 50 overs (Pratika Rawal 78, Smriti Mandhana 36, Harleen Deol 29, Jemimah Rodrigues 41, Harmanpreet Kaur 41*, Richa Ghosh 24; Nomkululeko Mlaba 2-55) beat South Africa Women 261 in 49.2 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 43, Tazmin Brits 109, Sunee Luus28, Aneerie Dercksen 30; Sneh Rana 5-43) by 15 runs
[Cricinfo]
ITF Junior Circuit J30 Tennis Tournament
Yuhansa Peiris and Ashlin de Silva registered first round victories in the girls’ and boys’ segments respectively of the ITF Junior Circuit J30 week II Tennis Tournament at the SSC courts in Colombo.
Yuhansa Peiris (Pix by Kamal
Wanniarachchi)
Yuhansa beat her Chinese opponent Zhuo Chen 7-6, 6-2.
Ashlin de Silva beat Ayaan Mohammod (India) 6-3, 6-1.
The tournament which began on April 28 will run till May 4.
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