Sports

Six balls that changed the night

Published

2 weeks ago

2026/02/28

Priyan

Glenn Phillips conceded 22 runs in the 18th over [Cricbuzz]

For most of the evening, Glenn Phillips looked like the safest investment on the field.

He batted with clarity. Against spin, anything too full was driven straight, anything too short pulled with control. He finished as New Zealand’s top-scorer without appearing to force the pace.

With the ball, he delivered a crucial breakthrough. Harry Brook looked to make room but Phillips, bowling his offbreaks from round the wicket, drifted the ball away. It meant the shot travelled much straighter into the hands of long-off instead of much squarer, where Brook’s intention had been to clear the 62-metre boundary.

Minutes later, Phillips sprinted in from the deep and dived forward to take a low catch inches above the turf. It was sharp, instinctive, and got rid of Jacob Bethell, who was set and posing a threat.

It felt like the making of one of those complete T20 nights for Phillips, the kind where one player seems to sit at the centre of the action and the game appears to move in rhythm with him. Runs, wickets, catches. Influence in every phase.

Then came the inflection point.

England needed 43 from three overs. The decision to hand Phillips the ball was not casual. It was a call built on evidence gathered through the evening. The pitch had rewarded spin. England had bowled 16 overs of it in the first innings, the most they have sent down in a T20I, and had even turned to Will Jacks for the 18th over earlier in the night, when he removed Phillips. The match had already shown how a part-time offspinner could tilt its direction.

With two right-handers at the crease, Phillips’ offbreaks would spin into them and, in theory, invite hits to the longer part of the ground, where batters had been caught in the deep. The dimensions mattered. The surface mattered. The match-ups mattered. It was the sort of decision that feels right in the moment because it has logic layered into it.

There were fewer obvious alternatives than hindsight suggests. Ish Sodhi had already conceded 21 in two overs. The seamers had been used in defined bursts and had not found exaggerated assistance at the death in the previous match on this strip. In fact, Sri Lanka had bowled three of the last four overs with pace and paid the price, with Santner putting the bowlers to the sword over the short boundary.

Santner’s thinking was about control and geometry, about forcing England to hit against the turn and into the bigger side of the ground, about backing the bowler who had influenced the night in multiple ways already.

“Yeah, I guess the toss-up was whether you bowled seam at some stage,” the New Zealand captain later said. “In the first innings, obviously, Brookie (Brooks) in England bowled a lot of seam at the end as well, and I guess it probably wasn’t doing as much as it was the other night, where we bowled a lot of spin. It was still obviously a challenging wicket, but yeah, you can always look at those things in hindsight.”

For a brief moment, it felt aligned with the script. Rehan Ahmed, playing his first-ever match in a T20 World Cup, charged down the track and wasn’t quite to the pitch of the ball, but managed to clear long-on. It was not just six runs. It shifted the mood. Will Jacks sensed it.

“I think that ball that Rehan hit, a six-second ball, that gave me energy as well,” Jacks said. “And I thought, right, we’ve got a chance here. And then obviously I finished over 6-4-4, and we were on. I think small moments like that is so important and not just the runs but the way it happens, hitting a big six and really showing the bowler that you’re on here and we believe that we can win this is really crucial and from that moment I think the mindset changed,” Jacks said.

22 runs came off Phillips’ over. 6, 4, 4 to close it from Jacks. The required rate shrank. The belief grew.

The defining image of Phillips’s night is not the dismissal of Brook or the catch to remove Bethell. Or of looking untroubled even against the guile of Adil Rashid on a slow pitch assisting big turn. Instead, it of Jacks standing tall and hitting straight, once over the larger boundary and again with enough conviction to make field settings feel secondary.

“I think as soon as he came in, we needed 12, maybe 13 and over, so we knew we had to put some impetus into the game,” Jacks said. “Even though there was a big side, we knew off spin to us was a good matchup and we had to take a risk there, knowing Santner was probably going to bowl the next over and it might be harder. And then that 19th over, the second-to-last ball, I said to him, I’ll get a single here and you have a free hit. And that six, obviously, needing five off the last over. It’s pretty much won us the game and that’s brilliant.

“That 18th over was a massive turning point, but you still have to do a lot of work to get to that point,” Jacks added.

Santner did not retreat from the logic. “GP [Glenn Phillips] bowled a good length and he charged and he wasn’t quite there, but great swing of the bat, goes for six,” he said. “And then you’re kind of thinking, is that the option or should I change or with the big boundary it was still trying to get hit to that side and then you could probably think about changing the field a little bit but it’s again it’s even Jacksey absolutely smoking that one just for six over the big side.

“On another day, that could be called or that’s the options we want them to take. Obviously, square was the bigger boundary versus straight. So I think as a bowler, it’s how do you keep getting it square versus down the ground,” Santner added.

Tim Seifert, who stood behind the stumps and watched the over unfold, put it bluntly: “You’ve got to take your hats off. One of them went straight over that big boundary. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your head.”

For 37 overs, Glenn Phillips had influenced the match in small, decisive ways. In the 38th, one over, built on a decision that made sense at the time, was met by three shots that were struck cleaner. In T20 cricket, that is often the difference.

[Cricbuzz]

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Agha calls for ‘sportsman spirit’ after controversial dismissal

Published

5 hours ago

2026/03/14

Priyan

Salman Agha reacted furiously after his controversial dismissal [BBC]

Salman Ali Agha said that he would have done things ‘differently”, after Mehidy Hasan Miraz ran him out in controversial circumstances in the second ODI in Dhaka.

Agha, who made 64 from 62 balls, had been backing up at the non-striker’s end when Mohammad Rizwan drove the ball back towards him. He was still out of his ground as Mehidy swooped round behind him in an attempt to gather, and Agha had appeared ready to pass the ball back to the bowler before Mehidy reached down to grab it first and throw down the stumps.

Agha reacted furiously to the dismissal, throwing his gloves and helmet down in disgust at the decision. However, he later came to the post-match press conference, ahead of captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and player of the match Maaz Sadaqat, to clear the air.

“I think sportsman spirit has to be there,” Agha said. “What he [Mehidy] has done is in the law. I think if he thinks it’s right, it’s right, but if you ask me my perspective, I would have done differently. I would have gone for sportsman spirit. We haven’t done this [type of thing] previously, we would never do that in the future as well.”

Agha explained that he had been trying to pick up the ball to give to Miraz, thinking it was likely to have been called dead. “Actually, the ball hit on my pad and then my bat,” he said. “So I thought he can’t get me run-out now, because the ball already hit on my pad and my bat.

“I was just trying to give him the ball back. I was not looking for the run or anything like that, but he already decided [to make the run-out].”

Agha however regretted his angry reaction. “It was just heat-of-the-moment kind of stuff,” he said. “If you ask me what would I have done, I would have done things differently. But it was everything, whatever happened after that, it was in the moment.”

He was also involved in a robust exchange with Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das, though he didn’t divulge many of the details.

“I can’t remember what I was saying and I can’t remember what he was saying,” he said. “I’m sure I wasn’t saying nice things, and I’m sure he wasn’t saying nice stuff as well. But it was just heat of the moment, so we are fine.

Asked if he had patched things up with Mehidy, Agha said: “I haven’t yet, but don’t worry, I’ll find him.”

Pakistan won the match by 128 runs via the DLS method.

[Cricinfo]

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Bahrain & Saudi Arabia Grands Prix to be cancelled

Published

14 hours ago

2026/03/14

Priyan

The grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were scheduled for next month (BBC)

The Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix that were scheduled for next month are set to be cancelled as a result of the war in the Middle East.

A formal decision to call off the races has not yet been made but is expected before the end of the weekend.

Freight would need to start being shipped to the Middle East in the coming days. With no sign of the conflict between the US/Israel and Iran coming to a conclusion, holding the races would put personnel at too great a risk.

Neither event will be replaced, with the season being cut to 22 grands prix and F1 taking a commercial hit of more than £100m, given Bahrain and Saudi Arabia pay two of the highest hosting fees.

The race in Bahrain was scheduled to be on 12 April with Jeddah the following weekend.

Consideration was given to holding events at Portimao in Portugal, Imola in Italy or Istanbul Park in Turkey.

But it was accepted that the time to organise a race at any of those locations was too short, and there was little chance of securing a hosting fee.

The decision will mean there is a five-week break between the Japanese Grand Prix on 29 March and Miami on 3 May.

(BBC)

Sports

Rehan, Ramiru guide Royal on day two

Published

14 hours ago

2026/03/14

Thilina Walpola

Royal College made steady progress in reply to their arch rivals’ first innings total as skipper Rehan Peiris and Ramiru Perera guided them to 175 for four wickets at stumps on day two of the 147th Battle of the Blues at the SSC ground on Friday.

‎Royal needed only 51 overs to reach their end-of-day total after S. Thomas’ College had earlier adopted a cautious approach before being bowled out for 302 runs.

‎Royal suffered an early setback when open batsman Hirun Liyanarachchi was dismissed for naught in the very first over, caught behind by Aaron Kodituwakku off the bowling of Gimhan Mendis.

‎Skipper Rehan Peiris then steadied the innings, repairing the early damage with two useful partnerships. He first added 41 runs for the second wicket with Udantha Gangewatta and followed it up with a 34-run stand for the third wicket alongside Sri Lanka Under-19 skipper Vimath Dinsara.

‎Dinsara struggled to find fluency during his stay at the crease, managing 11 runs off 30 balls before being trapped leg-before by Gimhan Mendis, who finished the day with two wickets.

‎Rehan continued to anchor the innings and produced the most productive stand of the Royal innings when he combined with Ramiru Perera for a vital 78-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The Royal skipper’s determined knock finally ended on 63 when he was dismissed by Ludeesha Matarage.

‎From there, Ramiru Perera and Yasindu Dissanayake ensured there were no further setbacks, batting cautiously until bad light forced the umpires to call off play.

‎Perera remained unbeaten on 70, an attractive innings that included ten boundaries, while Dissanayake provided solid support at the other end as Royal closed the day strongly.

‎Earlier in the day, resuming from their overnight score, the Thomians continued with their ultra-cautious approach, scoring at just over two runs per over. Reshon Solomon top-scored with 66 runs, while Ludeesha Matarage and Raphael Hettige chipped in with useful contributions in the twenties.

‎S. Thomas’ were eventually bowled out for 302 just before the lunch interval on the second day, having consumed 124 overs during their four-session first innings.

‎Gagan Gamage was the pick of the Royal bowlers with impressive figures of four wickets for 49 runs. He received good support from Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi, who claimed three wickets for 64 runs, while Himaru Deshan picked up two wickets for 43. Ramiru Perera also chipped in with a wicket to complete the Thomian innings.