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Poor outfield conditions led to Dharamsala losing the right to host the game

Alex Malcolm13-Feb-2023Indore has been confirmed as the venue for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after Dharamsala was ruled out because the ground was not ready.”Owing to harsh winter conditions in the region, the outfield [at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala] lacks sufficient grass density and will need some time to develop fully,” a BCCI statement on Monday morning said by way of explanation. It added that the teams would head to Indore for the third match of the four-Test series, starting on March 1, following the end of the second Test in Delhi, from February 17.The board had narrowed the choice of the venue for the third Test to Indore and Rajkot after ruling Dharamsala out following an unfavourable report from the board’s inspection panel.Related

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As reported previously on ESPNcricinfo, the panel visited the ground in Dharamsala on February 11 and noted several bare patches on the outfield, which was relaid recently by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association to install a new drainage system. Another deterrent was the fact that no cricket had been hosted by the venue since the two T20Is between India and Sri Lanka last February.Indore’s Holkar Cricket Stadium has previously hosted two Tests, against New Zealand in 2016 and against Bangladesh in 2019, with India winning both by huge margins. R Ashwin has taken 18 wickets in two Tests in Indore including match figures of 13 for 140 against New Zealand. Virat Kohli also made 211 in that match.India are hoping to maintain their dominance over Australia after a thumping innings victory inside three days in Nagpur in the first Test.

“In hindsight when we got a 165 on the board, it would have been nice to have another bowler,” admits KKR head coach

Varun Shetty02-Oct-20213:17

McCullum on Morgan’s form: I’m confident that he will come right

Kolkata Knight Riders are having a difficult time balancing their side in the absence of the injured Andre Russell, head coach Brendon McCullum admitted after they were beaten by Punjab Kings on Friday. Knight Riders have looked the most well-tuned side since the IPL has resumed, particularly in the early phases when they played Russell as a designated fifth bowler. But the clarity of roles in that XI has suffered since Russell’s hamstring injury against Chennai Super Kings, and Lockie Ferguson’s against Delhi Capitals earlier this week has meant some forced decisions.Related

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Against Kings, the decision was to bolster the batting with Tim Seifert in place of Ferguson, which exposed Venkatesh Iyer to a specialist bowling role that didn’t come off. Between Iyer and Nitish Rana, 3.3 overs of the fifth bowler’s quota went for 37 as Kings sealed a win in the last over.”In terms of the balance, when you take out a world class allrounder like Russell, it’s always difficult to balance your side,” McCullum said. “I know we got home in Sharjah the other day, we just felt a batter short and in that circumstance we felt that we could play the extra batter. We felt that we could utilise the bowling of both Venkatesh Iyer, who’s been so superb for us, and also Nitish Rana who’s a very cagey bowler. When you take one of your big players who happens to be an allrounder out, you’re always going to get the delicate balance of going either bowling strong or batting strong.”In hindsight when we got a 165 on the board, it would have been nice to have another bowler. But not [to be] on this occasion. I still felt like we had a chance in the game, I really did. I think with two overs to go, Punjab Kings were exactly the same score that we were on in our innings. So it was touch and go, small margins in this game and today it didn’t go our way.”Among the overseas options that Knight Riders have are allrounders Ben Cutting and Shakib Al Hasan. Tim Southee, who originally filled in for Russell, took Ferguson’s spot on Friday to effectively cut it down to four frontline bowling options. McCullum said that Shakib had been in contention, but indicated that Seifert’s batting form in the recently-concluded Caribbean Premier League had been tough to ignore. Seifert batted No. 7 on his Knight Riders debut and faced four balls, but the plan, McCullum said, had been to bat him higher.

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“Yeah Shakib’s certainly available,” McCullum said. “We’ve got a lot of squad options. You make calls when you’re a coach, which you sort of go on gut feel at times. Tim Seifert has been exceptional in the Caribbean where he’s been playing for TKR. He did really well in the middle order and we just felt like we needed to strengthen that middle order a little bit.”Because we got off to a good start, we shuffled Tim down a little bit in behind Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik. But yeah, look, Shakib’s always in the mix when you talk selection because his skillset, his ability to bowl left-arm orthodox and also his batting – we probably see him a bit more in the top three as a batter, but that certainly doesn’t mean he can’t slot in somewhere else. So he’ll be in the mix for the next game for sure.”Another one of Knight Riders’ concerns at the moment is captain Eoin Morgan’s form, although it hasn’t seriously affected their batting so far. Morgan is yet to get into double-figures in four innings at the UAE, but has been effective in his leadership role. After the loss against Super Kings, team mentor David Hussey had hinted that Morgan’s spot wasn’t under pressure; McCullum was more direct in stating that.”He’s one of our senior players, he’s one of our international batsmen, and he’s captain as well,” he said. “In his own head, he’d loved to have contributed more runs. I actually think he’s captained the side really really well, tactically. But look, you want some more runs from him, there’s no doubt you need runs from your overseas players. Particularly in those key spots as well. But I’m confident that he’ll come right.”Despite their loss, Knight Riders ended the matchday in fourth place thanks to a healthy net run-rate. They have, however, opened the doors for Mumbai Indians to take that spot with a two-point lead with a win against Delhi Capitals on Saturday.

Willey’s maiden ODI five-for sets target of 173, which Billings makes light work of with unbeaten fifty

The Report by Matt Roller30-Jul-2020David Willey’s maiden international five-for – including four wickets in his first 3.3 overs – set the tone before Sam Billings’ unbeaten 67 sealed a comfortable England win over Ireland in the first post-lockdown ODI at the Ageas Bowl.Debutant Curtis Campher’s fighting half-century had dragged Ireland up to 172 after Willey’s early burst before England fell into a spot of bother at 78 for 4, but Billings’ fluent half-century led them to victory with all of 22.1 overs to spare.The setting could hardly have been more different from England’s last ODI on home soil, the World Cup final at Lord’s last year seeming a world away from the biosecure bubble near Southampton. Despite music still blaring after boundaries and wickets, the absence of fans at a limited-overs international rankled more than it had during the Test series against West Indies, not least with broadcasters opting not to pipe artificial crowd noise in over the top.Ireland had been at the ground for the best part of two weeks after training in small groups at home, but their top order collapsed dramatically in their first competitive game since March, slumping to 28 for 5 after 6.3 overs primarily thanks to Willey.Willey had not played for England since May 2019, after being left out of their World Cup squad at the last minute to accommodate Jofra Archer’s inclusion, but said in the build-up to this series that he felt refreshed after a winter off. His method here was simple, bowling slightly full of a length to give the ball the chance to move late.ALSO READ: Bairstow to play Bob Willis Trophy in push for Test recallPaul Stirling was the first man to go, chipping to midwicket to an inswinger, before captain Andy Balbirnie was sucked into a drive and edged a ball that nibbled away to slip. 20-year-old debutant Harry Tector soon followed for a nine-ball duck, chopping on against Saqib Mahmood when cramped for room.Gareth Delany, whose high-handed backlift and big-hitting exploits in club and provincial cricket catapulted him into international contention last year, realised there was little point hanging about, whacking four boundaries and edging another through Roy in the slips.But he failed to turn his start into a meaningful contribution as he slashed Willey straight to backward point for 22. Lorcan Tucker looked to have survived a tight lbw shout first ball, but England reviewed successfully to leave Ireland in all sorts at 28 for 5.The rebuilding job was left to two men at opposite ends of their careers: Kevin O’Brien in his 134th ODI innings, and Campher in his first. Campher’s inclusion had raised some eyebrows in Ireland – he has never played a competitive game there, only declaring for them earlier this year – but his pedigree for South Africa U-19s and impressive from in the nets was enough for Balbirnie to throw him straight in.They added 51 in 14.4 overs to give Ireland some hope of putting themselves into a position to accelerate late up towards a competitive score, but O’Brien picked out long-off trying to whack Adil Rashid for a straight six and four balls later Simi Singh inexplicably ran himself out to leave them 79 for 7.Campher batted for 118 balls and the best part of three hours in his desperate attempt to shore things up, rarely attacking after three early boundaries and instead looking to play Rashid out as best he could. Andy McBrine, in at No. 9, decided to free his arms while Campher continued to tick over, whacking Moeen down the ground for six before hitting Tom Curran for three boundaries, but with the partnership sitting on 66 he went one time too many, pulling him to Billings at deep square leg who took a good catch running in.Barry McCarthy was the ninth man out, caught at deep square leg off Mahmood, and Craig Young holed out to mid-off running back to give Willey his five-for.McCarthy went off five balls into the first over of the chase, with a knee injury, leaving Ireland without their main strike bowler, but they still managed an early breakthrough. McBrine was brought on early, and had Bairstow lbw on review with a regulation offbreak that Bairstow pushed at and missed.Jason Roy looked to be finding some kind of fluency after a scratchy start as he carted McBrine for six and then hit successive balls from Young for four, one via the inside edge. But Young responded with a nip-backer on a length that trapped him on the pad and would have gone on to hit the top of middle.James Vince was the third man to fall inside the first ten overs, with the sort of innings that has unfortunately become his trademark at international level. He hit five boundaries in nine balls after a steady start, four of them straight out the middle of the bat, but feathered behind with a loose drive to give Young his second.Eoin Morgan opted to promote Tom Banton and Billings above himself, but Banton fell tamely in his first List A innings at No. 4. He had locked horns with Campher before in an Under-19 series against South Africa two years ago, and was trapped lbw by him on that tour; here, he flapped at a short ball and only managed to top-edge through to Tucker.In truth, it never looked as though Ireland had any real chance of defending 172, not least after Morgan lashed his first ball for four through point. He cruised to a half-century stand with Billings, who took advantage of an unexpected opportunity that came about after Joe Denly reported lower-back pain in training yesterday and impressed with a wide range of reverse-sweeps, pulls and drives in reaching his highest ODI score.

The 38-year-old left-arm spinner, who played 21 internationals for Scotland, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour last year

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2019Scotland left-arm spinner Con de Lange passed away on Thursday, aged 38. It was revealed last year that de Lange, who also played for Northamptonshire, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour.In October 2018, Cricket Scotland had launched a fund-raising appeal for de Lange, who had undergone many forms of medical treatment, including an operation, radiation and chemotherapy, in an effort to battle the illness.His last appearance for Scotland came in 2017, in an ODI series against Papua New Guinea in the UAE, when he was also the vice-captain of the squad. Overall, de Lange, who was born in Cape Province in South Africa, played 13 ODIs and eight T20Is between June 2015 and November 2017. His only five-for in ODIs came in a memorable win for Scotland against Zimbabwe, the side’s first ODI victory against a Full Member.Prior to playing for Scotland, de Lange played first-class cricket for Boland, Cape Cobras, Eagles and Free State in the South African domestic circuit, before a short county stint with Northamptonshire in 2012, where he played 22 games across formats and took 23 wickets.Tony Brian, Chairman of Cricket Scotland, said in a statement that de Lange had been a great servant to cricket in Scotland as well as South Africa. “Con’s death at such an early age is a tragedy. He was a great servant to cricket in Scotland as well as South Africa and elsewhere, not just in the national team but also at regional and club level with his infectious and inspirational commitment, both as player and coach.”But above all, we will remember Con the man – competitive, committed and the ultimate team player, someone with unshakeable principles and integrity. He will be greatly missed and very fondly remembered by many throughout the world of cricket.”Former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald and current England international David Willey were among those who paid tribute to de Lange on Twitter.

The Australia captain enjoyed a successful season in charge of Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2018Australia’s captain Steven Smith will take charge of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2018. Smith was the only player retained by the franchise in January, for INR 12 crore (USD 1.89 million approx).This is Royals’ first year back in the IPL after a two-year suspension for their role in the 2013 corruption scandal. Smith had played for Royals before their suspension, so he qualified to be retained by them. He has filled in as captain for them in seasons past, but was never full-time leader.In the interim, he had played for Rising Pune Supergiant, captaining them in 2017 in place of MS Dhoni. That seemed to trigger a dramatic turnaround for the franchise; they went from finishing second to last in 2016 to making the final in 2017, which they lost by one run.Other high-profile options to lead Royals included India batsman Ajinkya Rahane and England allrounder Ben Stokes. Stokes’ chances would have been diminished though, given there remains a chance he might miss the tournament due to the legal proceedings concerning the charge of affray against him. The IPL has said Royals would be allowed a replacement player for Stokes only if he is ruled out of the tournament before it begins as a result of the legal proceedings.

Lockie Ferguson took two wickets off his first two balls in T20Is and helped restrict Bangladesh to 141. Williamson took over thereafter to seal a six-wicket win

The Report by Mohammad Isam03-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:49