Category Uncategorized

Royals finished last in 2021, but this year, they have won nine out of 11 games and go into the title clash as favourites

Deivarayan Muthu29-Sep-2022

Big picture

The likes of Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Nicholas Pooran and Dwayne Bravo will feature in the CPL 2022 final. The star-studded Trinbago Knight Riders and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, the CPL 2021 champions and the inaugural 6ixty winners, were the first two teams to be knocked out this year. Who woulda thunk it? Kyle Mayers’ Barbados Royals and Rovman Powell’s Jamaica Tallawahs are the only two teams standing now, with the title up for grabs.Royals, who finished bottom last season, have bossed their way to the final, losing just two of the 11 games they have played so far. One of those losses was in an inconsequential match for them against Guyana Amazon Warriors and the other a rain-hit bout against Tallawahs, where Powell hit a timely six to put them ahead on the DLS rule. That Royals have dominated the tournament despite the absence of their regular captain David Miller and Quinton de Kock for the final leg in Guyana has made their run even more remarkable.Royals’ franchise in the IPL (Rajasthan) fell at the final hurdle earlier this year but Barbados have the chance to do one better and perhaps set the foundation for a new CPL dynasty. Their opponents, Tallawahs, have had a less straightforward path to the championship game but it is worth noting that the last two times they had made it this far, they went and won the whole thing.Powell’s men had set the early pace in 2022, along with Royals, with three wins in their first four matches, but slowed down in the Trinidad and Guyana legs of the tournament. Having eliminated Faf du Plessis’ St Lucia Kings and Shimron Hetmyer’s Amazon Warriors, Tallawahs have gathered pace once again.Though David Miller will be missing, Barbados Royals will be counting on Kyle Mayers and Jason Holder•CPL T20 via Getty Images

Along the way, they have learnt to live without Russell, with Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nabi, and Powell himself doing the job for them with bat and ball. Tallawahs appeared top-heavy in the early half of the tournament, but the late arrival of Nabi has helped them balance out their XI. Although local opener Kennar Lewis is yet to fire like he can, Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks have showed attacking enterprise at the top.Brooks is more of an ODI-style white-ball player but on Wednesday he rode his luck and powered his way to a 52-ball 109 not out – an innings that had Tallawahs assistant coach Curtly Ambrose quite animated. Having come into the squad as a replacement player in 2021, Brooks played a heroic knock in the second qualifier on Wednesday and showed that he could cut it in T20 cricket as well.While Tallawahs’ batting hasn’t always clicked in unison, their bowling attack certainly has with Mohammad Amir and Imad taking 16 wickets each.

Form guide

Barbados Royals WLWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Jamaica Tallawahs WWLLW

In the spotlight

Obed McCoy had some issues with his rhythm and run-up in the early half of the season, but he still found ways to take wickets. He can hit speeds north of 140kph with the new ball and also cut the pace down at the death. Jason Holder is so impressed with McCoy that he believes the left-arm seamer could be “unstoppable” if he continues to develop his skills.The Barbados Royals six-hitters have made their mark on Providence stadium, the venue of the final•CPL T20/Getty Images

Imad Wasim is out of Pakistan’s side on fitness grounds but he continues to be an ever-present in Tallawahs’ line-up. Along with Powell, Wasim was part of the Tallawahs side that last won the title six years ago. Can he do it again, this time with a new-look team? The left-arm spinner has been his usual miserly self with the ball and can move up the order to deny oppositions favourable match-ups. His rollicking, unbroken 103-run stand with Brooks in the second qualifier is among the highlights of the season.

Team news

Royals will likely field an unchanged XI in the final although they have South African seam-bowling allrounder Corbin Bosch on the bench.Barbados Royals (probable): 1 Kyle Mayers (capt), 2 Rahkeem Cornwall, 3 Harry Tector, 4 Azam Khan, 5 Najibullah Zadran, 6 Devon Thomas (wk), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 9 Obed McCoy, 10 Hayden Walsh Jr, 11 Ramon SimmondsAmir suffered a groin injury during the second qualifier and bowled only 11 balls. If he doesn’t recover in time, Tallawahs might consider bringing in South African quick Migael Pretorius.Jamaica Tallawahs (probable): 1 Brandon King, 2 Kennar Lewis (wk), 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Rovman Powell (capt), 5 Imad Wasim, 6 Fabian Allen, 7 Raymon Reifer, 8 Mohammad Nabi, 9 Chris Green, 10 Nicholson Gordon, 11 Mohammad Amir/Migael Pretorius

Pitch and conditions

Providence is usually slow and conductive to spin, but this season it has aided strokeplay too. Four of the top five totals in CPL 2022, have been made there, including the first 200.

Stats and trivia

• Amir has excelled in the powerplay this season, picking up a chart-topping nine wickets in 11 innings at an incredible economy rate of 4.99. In terms of wickets in the powerplay, Mayers is second with seven strikes.
• Royals have by far been the most economical bowling team in the death, conceding only 6.99 an over during this segment. In comparison, Tallawahs have gone at 10.58 an over.
• Only Chris Gayle (1695) and Russell (1491) have scored more runs than Powell’s 1323 for Tallawahs in the CPL.
  

Each squad will be allowed a maximum of 24 players, and unlimited Covid-19 substitiutes

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2020IPL 2020 will take place in the UAE from September 19 to November 10, pending clearances from the Indian government.During its meeting on Sunday, the IPL governing council decided to set a 24-player limit for each squad, and approved the use of unlimited Covid-19 substitutes.The window makes IPL 2020 a 53-day event, three days longer than the last two seasons, and the longest of all the eight-team editions of the tournament. Ten of the 53 days will involve double-headers. The matches will be played across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, with night matches starting at 7.30pm IST (6.00pm UAE time), and afternoon matches at 3.30pm IST (2.00pm UAE time).A franchise told ESPNcricinfo that detailed fixtures would be sent to them on Monday, and that the first leg of the tournament will be played behind closed doors. The Emirates board, earlier this week, had shown a keenness to fill the stadiums to 30-50% capacity.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A BCCI release said the Women’s T20 Challenge would also take place alongside the IPL, featuring three teams playing four matches during the final week of the tournament. The release added that the governing council would finalise and publish its standard operating procedures (SOPs) “in due course, including the agencies to execute and deliver a bio-secure environment for safe and successful conduct of IPL 2020 Season.”In the lead-up to the meeting, it was understood that the date for the final was a toss-up between November 8 and November 10. With the latter date chosen, the IPL will for the first time have the final on a weekday – Tuesday.The BCCI said a meeting with the franchises would be called shortly, and among the logistical and operational issues that will be discussed before the SOPs are ready, three franchises – Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals, and Kings XI Punjab – will likely be seeking clarity on the squad limit, given that all three of them currently have 25 players listed in their squads on the official IPL website.The IPL will retain all its major sponsor, including the Chinese mobile company VIVO, the title sponsor. The topic of Chinese sponsors has been a contentious one in recent weeks, given the cross-border tensions between India and China.ALSO READ: What to expect from the IPL governing council meetingIn April, the BCCI postponed the 2020 IPL season indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The board’s first preference was to stage the event in India, but the rapidly increasing count of coronavirus cases in the country has made that unfeasible. The total count of confirmed cases in India has shot past the 1.75 million mark, which puts the country place behind only the USA and Brazil worldwide.On July 21, Brijesh Patel, the chairman of the IPL governing council, announced that plans were afoot to hold the tournament in the UAE. Part of the 2014 edition was also held in the UAE, since it coincided with the general elections in India.

Asitha Fernando, the right-arm quick, is the only replacement who has been called up

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Mar-2020Sri Lanka’s 3-0 sweep in the ODIs against West Indies has come with some collateral damage. Fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep and allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva will miss the two-match T20I series which begins March 4, after both picked up injuries in the third ODI on Sunday. Asitha Fernando, the right-arm quick, is the only replacement who has been called up.Pradeep hobbled off the field after 4.3 overs in Pallkelle, picking up a hamstring injury three deliveries into his second spell. De Silva injured his wrist during the second innings after scoring a half-century that took the hosts to a match-winning score of 307.Fernando’s only Sri Lanka appearance came in an ODI in 2017, where he bowled just two overs against Zimbabwe. Since then, he has been in and out of squads – across all three formats – without breaking into the playing XI. In 20 T20 games, he has an economy of 6.98 and an average of 16.84. Even so, he is once again likely to be behind the first-choice trio of Lahiru Kumara, Lasith Malinga, and Isuru Udana in terms of the pecking order.Fernando has been chosen partly due to his first-class form. He has taken 26 wickets at an average of 17.61 across four matches in the ongoing Premier League Tournament. It is likely because the first-class competition is in full swing that that the selectors have named no replacement for de Silva, as well.Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka, also, offer pace options. Their form, together with the recent consistency shown by Thisara Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga may be why there was no replacement sought for de Silva.Hamstring injuries have been a constant problem for Pradeep, and this one will keep him out for at least six weeks, which means that he is not available for the forthcoming Tests against England. In any case, he has not been chosen in the longest format for a while, mainly because of his injury problems.De Silva, meanwhile, is understood to be facing a shorter recovery period, and should be back in time for the Tests, the first of which begins on March 19.Updated Sri Lanka squad: Lasith Malinga (capt.), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Isuru Udana, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara

Mark Wood has earned a recall as Jake Ball and Tom Curran miss out from the Ashes squad

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2018
Liam Livingstone has been drafted into England’s squad for the two-Test tour of New Zealand in March and April, after Gary Ballance paid the price for England’s 4-0 thrashing in the Ashes – despite not featuring at any stage of the series.James Vince and Mark Stoneman have both been handed another chance after mediocre Ashes series, a move endorsed by coach Trevor Bayliss. The naming of the squad for New Zealand had been delayed by 24 hours due to Joe Root’s illness and the selectors resisted wholesale changes despite the 4-0 Ashes defeat.Livingstone, 24, made his international debut in the T20 series against South Africa last summer – and though he failed to impress with 16 runs in two innings, he has long been seen as one of the brightest young prospects in English cricket.He made 805 runs for Lancashire in the County Championship in 2017, including an impressive 224 against Warwickshire in September, and has earned a call-up ahead of the likes of Dan Lawrence, Joe Clarke or his county team-mate Haseeb Hameed, who was England’s find of the winter in India in 2016-17, but struggled to rediscover his best form after recovering from a broken hand.

England Test squad for New Zealand

Joe Root (Yorkshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Craig Overton (Somerset), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Stoneman (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham)

“Liam has been a player that we have been impressed with for quite some time, having performed well in the county system with Lancashire and over the past couple of years with the England Lions,” said James Whitaker, the national selector.”He is a very talented and tough cricketer who has the ideal qualities and character to be successful in the Test arena.”During the recent Lions tour of Australia, he was a standout performer and showed a lot of maturity in his attitude and put in some strong performances. We are particularly impressed with the way he bats against spin and is equally adept against the seamers. Liam is also highly regarded at his county Lancashire and will captain the side in the Specsavers County Championship during the 2018 campaign.”The other notable inclusion is Durham’s fast bowler, Mark Wood, who flirted with a recall ahead of the Perth Test in December after England’s lack of out-of-out pace had been exposed in the first two Tests. In the end he was not deemed sufficiently match-fit to be risked in a Test match, despite having impressed for England Lions on their camp in Queensland, but now he’s back in the squad in place of Jake Ball, after recovering from the ankle problems that undermined his Test comeback against South Africa last summer.”After a frustrating period with injuries, Mark is now back to full fitness and is looking forward to being part of our Test plans, said Whitaker. “He will play a significant part in our forthcoming ODI tour of Australia and we will be paying close attention to his efforts over the next few weeks.”Ben Stokes is included, though his involvement remains subject to any relevant legal or disciplinary developments in relation to the incident in Bristol in September. Should the ECB Board receive formal confirmation that Stokes has either been charged or that he will face no charges, they would convene within 48 hours to make a decision on his availability for the team at that stage.In addition to Ballance and Ball, the Surrey seamer Tom Curran also misses out from the squad that completed the Ashes.”All three players (Gary Ballance, Jake Ball, Tom Curran) have worked hard on the recent Ashes tour,” said Whitaker. “Unfortunately, they miss out on selection for New Zealand. All three will return to county cricket and will be looking to start the season well with a view to staking their claim to get back into selection reckoning. They are talented players and I am sure their time will come again.”
‪

Nick Selman, the Glamorgan opener, carried his bat for a maiden Championship century, as Glamorgan battled to stay in contention against Northamptonshire at Swansea

ECB Reporters Network05-Aug-2016
ScorecardLaurie Evans pressed Northants’ advantage in the second innings•PA Photos

Nick Selman, the Glamorgan opener, carried his bat for a maiden Championship century, as Glamorgan battled to stay in contention against Northamptonshire at Swansea. However, by the close, the visitors were strongly placed to push for their first Championship win of the season, as they closed with a lead of 315 with three wickets still in hand.Selman’s battling effort, which lasted 302 minutes and included 15 fours from 208 balls, meant he became the first Glamorgan batsman to carry his bat since the Australian Matthew Elliott achieved the feat against Hampshire in Cardiff in 2004.Although he received some support from the lower order, with Andrew Salter, Ruaidhri Smith and Owen Morgan all falling in the twenties, six of Glamorgan’s batsmen were dismissed in single figures as Northants’ seam attack, led by Mohammad Azharullah and Ben Sanderson, thrived in the conditions.Azharullah was their most impressive bowler with 3 for 58, as Northants’ seamers observed the virtue of bowling a full length on a pitch that does give them some assistance. However, had Selman not been dropped by Rory Kleinveldt from an easy caught and bowled chance from the first ball of the day, the damage would have been even greater.As it was, Northants secured a first-innings lead of 85, and were once again rattled by the teenaged debutant, Lukas Carey, who dismissed both openers early in the innings. Ben Duckett failed for the second time in the game when he drove loosely outside the off stump, and he was quickly followed by Rob Newton who edged to second slip.

Laurie Evans remained steadfast however, and passed fifty for the second time in the game in adding 75 with David Murphy, who was eventually lbw to Carey. The 19-year-old then claimed his fourth wicket when Saif Zaib edged to the wicketkeeper, before Northants lost two wickets in successive balls to Tim van der Gugten.After striking 32 from 17 balls, Kleinveldt holed out on the extra cover boundary then Evans, who scored 73 with eight fours, was visibly annoyed with himsef when he pulled a short ball to the fielder on the square leg boundary. Graeme White and Sean Terry added some useful runs towards the end of the day as Northants closed on 230 for 7.

On the day when cricket writers hightailed it to Cardiff, Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales made a persuasive case that those scribes would have been better advised motoring up the M1

Paul Edwards at Trent Bridge19-Apr-2015
ScorecardAlex Hales batted throughout the opening day to end with a career-best double century•Getty Images

On the day when cricket writers hightailed it to Cardiff to assess a batsman who would seem to have little prospect of playing for England again, Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales made a persuasive case that those scribes would have been better advised motoring up the M1 and watching him instead.Batting against champions Yorkshire, whose thumping innings victory against his side to clinch the title last September still fires him up, Hales made a career-best 222 not out off 250 balls as Chris Read’s batsmen piled up 393 runs in 95.1 overs. And Hales’ pleasure may, if anything, have been increased by the fact that his team had been asked to have first knock on a Trent Bridge pitch which offered early help but not too much more. Yorkshire’s bowlers paid dearly for their failure take only two wickets in a first session when the ball was new and the cloud cover so pronounced that the floodlights were pressed into service.There were other respects in which Hales’ double-century was quite as well timed as many of his cover drives. Last week he admitted to feeling that he had never had “a proper crack” at international cricket; on the opening day of the County Championship season at Trent Bridge he played an innings whose dominance suggested he might yet be worth a try in the longer form of the game, let alone the shorter versions in which he has established his reputation.Coming to the wicket after Steven Mullaney was lbw to Steven Patterson for 27 in the 12th over of the morning, Hales took time to assess the conditions and gauge the potency of Yorkshire’s bowlers. This was no sort of 20-over thrash on a drop-in pitch with boundaries brought in and the fielding side hobbled by the rules. Rather, Hales watched carefully from the other end as 17-year-old Matthew Fisher took a wicket with his seventh ball in Championship cricket when Brendan Taylor’s careless drive only edged the ball to the very safe hands of Alex Lees at slip.That wicket fell with the home side on 77 but any impression that the morning’s rewards had been shared when Nottinghamshire lunched on 105 for 2 were misleading. Andrew Gale’s attack had already been given their best chance of doing serious damage but neither Tim Bresnan nor Jack Brooks had pitched the ball up in the devastating fashion they had managed at New Road only five days previously.In the afternoon session the Nottinghamshire batsmen gained the rewards for their caution. Hales went to his fifty with a perfectly-executed back foot cover-drive off Patterson and Taylor cut Brooks for another fine boundary. When Jack Leaning’s offspin was tried, Hales milked it for a couple of boundaries and whacked his only six over long off. Gale was soon forced to bring back the seamers.It made little difference. Taylor notched his fifty and then Hales reached his century off 131 balls, the second fifty runs being scored off only 38 balls. When Fisher bowled a fine outswinger he got inside the line and clipped through wide mid-on. Suddenly the young man was receiving a rather rough introduction to top-level domestic cricket.Late in the second session Yorkshire gained relief from their torment when Brooks brought one back off the seam to have Taylor lbw for 59 and then immediately had Samit Patel taken by Lees, who is developing into one of the safest slips on the circuit. These successes will have buoyed Yorkshire’s bowlers but the course of the day’s cricket had been set by that third-wicket stand of 171 in 35 overs. You don’t generally regard a score of 252 for 4 as an adequate reward when you have put the opposition in.The final session of the day saw Hales continue his progress in pleasingly ruthless fashion and it will have been greatly enjoyed by the crowd which had filled much of the Radcliffe Road Stand at least half an hour before play began. Fleeced and Playfaired, they resumed conversations which they had merely suspended seven months previously. Those home spectators remembered last September’s annihilation, too.Hales added 81 runs in the evening and reached his 200 off 234 balls but he also lost three of his partners as Yorkshire’s bowlers discovered accuracy with the second new ball they had rarely shown with the first. Riki Wessels, Chris Read and Will Gidman were all dismissed relatively cheaply, reinforcing the impression that Nottinghamshire are well ahead in this game.The last wicket, that of Gidman, was claimed by Patterson who finished with 2 for 58 from 22.1 overs. The Beverley seamer was the best of Gale’s bowlers on this first day, for he achieved a prudent economy which contrasted with the prodigality of some of his colleagues.Indeed, it comes as no great shock to discover that the accurate Patterson would choose a career in finance were he not to be a cricketer. One can rather imagine him celebrating Yorkshire’s Championship last September with an extra session of double-entry book-keeping.Steven Patterson, you see, does not frivol. But neither, clearly, does Alex Hales. Asked whether he hoped that his innings would send a message to the England selectors, he remarked succinctly: “I hope it does”. He can probably relax on the first evening of this game, secure in the knowledge that his communication has been received, even by those negotiating traffic-jams on the M4.

Dwayne Bravo, the Trinidad & Tobago captain, believes his team will be able to counteract the threats of Lasith Malinga and Tillakaratne Dilshan in Thursday’s CPL semi-final against Guyana

The Preview by Renaldo Matadeen22-Aug-2013

T&T v Guyana, 1st semi-final, CPL

August 22, 2013, Port-of-Spain
Start time 20:00 local (24:00 GMT)
Form guide (Most recent games first)
T&T Red Steel LWWWL
Guyana Amazon Warriors WWWLL
Stats and trivia
All four previous games in Port-of-Spain have been won by the side batting first
Guyana have four of the top nine run-getters in the tournament
Guyana’s Guptill and Hafeez, both not available for the semi-final, put together the highest partnership of the CPL – 98 v Barbados Tridents in Port-of-Spain

Dwayne Bravo, the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel captain, believes his team will be able to counteract the threats of new arrivals Lasith Malinga and Tillakaratne Dilshan come Thursday’s Caribbean Premier League semi-final at home against table-toppers Guyana Amazon Warriors.”They have brought in some good players and Malinga is dangerous,” Bravo said. “He showed this in the T20 World Cup. Dilshan is also a very big player but T&T have picked up momentum and we’re looking to carry this into the semis. I know we can deal with these new threats.”T&T began the tournament with three successive losses before winning their next three matches to take the fourth spot and make the semi-finals. Bravo commended his players for their attitudes following the calamitous start and credited coach Gordon Greenidge and assistant coach David Williams for their leadership.”We’ve got our batters to make runs but it’s the coaches who really helped us keep our heads up,” Bravo said. “Batsmen like Adrian (Barath), Ross (Taylor) and (Kevin) O’Brien are leading the way and making it easier for us out there. We’ve got more disciplined and are playing good, all-round cricket.”But Guyana cannot be discounted. Lendl (Simmons) and Sunil (Narine) add a lot of weight to the opposition but Brian Lara keeps giving us pep talks and makes us believe. That is another secret weapon we have.”Greenidge added, “Guyana are strong but we have seen in the prelims, that we can handle them. We have (Mahela) Jayawardene also and he’s a big plus factor with his experience, so watch out for him.”Bravo said that though he did not have all the T&T players who have made the national side such a strong force in regional Twenty20 competition, his CPL side had shown they could not be ignored. “The semi-final is harder to play than the final. We’re not the Trinidad team that dominated the T20s regionally before. But what we’ve shown is that the Red Steel cannot be underestimated.”Although Guyana have flown in Malinga and Dilshan for the knockout stage, Ramnaresh Sarwan, the side’s captain, said it was difficult to replace players such as Martin Guptill, who is out of the tournament with a hand injury, and Mohammad Hafeez, who left to lead Pakistan in Zimbabwe. Guptill made 198 runs at a strike-rate of 119.27 in the tournament while Hafeez was one of the premier allrounders, with 159 runs at 110.41 and five wickets at an economy-rate of 6.66. Sarwan exercised caution over the integration of his new charges and said they needed time to acclimatize.”We topped the group stage and yes, it’s hard to replace players like Hafeez, who added so much of his experience as an international captain, and also Guptill, who has been tremendous with the bat,” Sarwan said. “But players like Simmons and Narine know our opponents well. They know the pitch, and how to win regional matches. They can help ease the load off the new guys (Malinga and Dilshan), who literally are just joining us.”Sarwan pointed that his team was a stronger unit than the Guyana regional side that won the Caribbean T20 tournament in Port-of-Spain three years ago. “This isn’t the Guyana team who won the Caribbean T20 title right here in 2010 but actually, we’re stronger with the external players we possess,” Sarwan said. “Throw in players like Malinga and Dilshan, who have big repertoires and are some of the best in the business right now, and we’re well equipped to take the trophy to Guyana.”We’ve been very excellent in the field and with the ball. We have the tournament’s leading wicket-taker in Krishmar Santokie, so I know with our batsmen ready, we feel the win coming.”Left-arm seamer Santokie, the last of whose two T20s was in March 2012, has pitched himself into West Indies contention again with 14 wickets from seven matches at an economy-rate of 6.18. Sarwan said with Santokie alongside Narine, Guyana’s attack looked secure.