In the repeat of the 2016 final, Sunrisers Hyderabad followed a similar winning script, scoring 200-plus and defending it after an early scare

The Report by Sidharth Monga05-Apr-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
4:52

Hogg: Middle-order show will give Sunrisers confidence

The IPL opens new seasons with a match between the previous edition’s finalists, and this year the teams seemed to have been handed the same lines. The characters speaking those lines changed, the stage changed, but Sunrisers Hyderabad once again posted a 200-plus total and defended it successfully after an early scare. This 207 was Sunrisers’ second-highest IPL score, one behind the final last year, and despite all their power and matches in Bangalore, Royal Challengers have successfully chased 200 only once in the IPL.Sunrisers’ captain David Warner seemed to be repeating his lines from the final but it was Yuvraj Singh’s sublime 62 off 27 that set up the 200 score after Moises Henriques provided him the springboard with 52 off 37. In response, Chris Gayle looked threatening as Royal Challengers raced away to 43 for 0 in four overs. Missing Mustafizur Rahman, Sunrisers found a new hero in Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan, who took the wheels of the chase off with quick legbreaks and wrong’uns, claiming two wickets on his IPL debut.Royal Challengers turn left
Missing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, having lost Mitchell Starc again and having let go of Chris Jordan, the selection of the runners-up was going to be interesting. They tried to emulate the champions, going for three left-arm quicks, but they got them on against a batting line-up that relies on three big left-hand batsmen. All three of Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj boast better strike rates against left-arm quicks than their overall career numbers. Despite Tymal Mills’ impressive debut, there was only one winner here. In all, the Royal Challengers left-arm quicks bowled 38 balls to the left-hand batsmen for 78 runs, including some sumptuous hitting from Yuvraj against the two IPL debutants, Mills and Aniket Choudhury.Yuvraj and Henriques tee off
One of the under-rated players in Sunrisers’ triumph last year, Henriques batted effortlessly at No. 3 after Warner fell against the run of play. Even though Dhawan struck at a potentially damaging strike rate of 129 over 31 balls, Henriques didn’t let the momentum stall. And when he met Yuvraj in the middle, Royal Challengers had to face some carnage. Yuvraj had one of his nights where everything he hit went. The highlight of his innings was when Mills, one of the best at the slower legcutter, found him waiting for that very delivery. Yuvraj proceeded to send it sailing over midwicket for a six. Ben Cutting provided the final touches with two sixes in the last over, bowled again by Shane Watson.Cutting, Rashid, Hooda drag Royal Challengers back
After yet another ominous start from Gayle, Cutting began the comeback for Sunrisers. He first gave Gayle what no one else had: a bouncer. Then came the offcutter, the delivery that had dismissed Gayle in the final. A wide yorker made an appearance. Despite just a five-run fifth over, Royal Challengers had had the first win. They had made Rashid bowl in the first six: in bowling 546 balls in T20Is, Rashid had bowled only one over inside the front six. Rashid, though, rose to the challenge, and bowled Mandeep Singh in trademark fashion: bowled with a straighter delivery, making it 14 of his 40 right-hand victims bowled. Now the World T20 final repeated itself. Warner went to the part-time offspinner in Deepak Hooda – remember Joe Root? – and Gayle holed out to long-off after hitting one six.Cutting, Rashid, part II
Kedar Jadhav and Travis Head, though, kept Royal Challengers alive with a 56-run partnership in 5.1 overs. With 93 required in 8.3 overs, the asking rate was still in check, especially with Watson still in the shed. This is when Jadhav attempted an ambitious second only to find an effortless and flat direct hit from fine leg. Cutting had once again dragged Royal Challengers back. Rashid now repeated his second-favourite dismissal, the wrong’un to the left-hand batsman, as Head top-edged a slog sweep. Against the quality of Sunrisers’ attack, Watson alone was always going to be one man too few, and they fell short by 35 in the end.

Tim May, an architect of the first collective agreement between Cricket Australia and the players, has challenged the board to provide better justification for ending the fixed revenue percentage model

Daniel Brettig19-Apr-2017Tim May, one of the architects of the first collective bargaining agreement between Cricket Australia and Australia’s cricketers, has challenged the board to provide better justification for its desire to end the fixed revenue percentage model that has remained in place over the past 20 years.In an exclusive ESPNcricinfo column, May took issue with CA’s contention that the model had “done its job” of ensuring international male players were the best paid in the country while domestic players are paid competitively relative to other sports. While lauding movs to raise pay for women, he questioned why it had been determined that domestic players in particular must now be locked into a wage.He did so while noting that every major sport in the United States – where May has been based for more than a decade – makes use of revenue sharing models, invariably offering the players a far higher percentage of revenue than the figure of around 26% Australia’s cricketers have been entitled to since that first deal was struck with the Australian Cricketers Association in 1998. May wondered why CA wished to break it up at a time when domestic players were about to provide a greater share of the game’s revenue – via the Big Bash League- than ever before.”For the past two decades CA and ACA have built a culture of players and administrators working together to grow the game and share in its success – but now with this success moving to a new level, one party no longer wants to play ball,” May wrote. “The stakes here are high. CA’s position threatens to set back by decades the relationship between players and administrators.”To change the system so radically, it needs to provide a valid and compelling argument. The onus is on the board, not the players. CA needs to explain why, for 20 years, the revenue-sharing model has worked so successfully and yet now it suddenly can’t work. It’s a tough one for it because, as far as I can see, there really isn’t a valid argument.”In 1998, May worked alongside James Sutherland, then commercial manager at what was then the Australian Cricket Board, to sort out the finer details of the deal that has remained in place with minimal changes over the past two decades, most of which have seen Sutherland in place as CA’s chief executive.Having observed the way the game is changing, particularly via the emergence of Twenty20 leagues across the globe, May argued that the model is now more valuable than ever, providing the players with a genuine stake in the game down under that helps to dissuade some from simply pursuing T20 competitions year-round. At the same time it means the cost to CA rises or falls depending on the total amount of money being raked in, rather than putting pressure on the board in the event of a tour cancellation, or the boycotts like the one threatened by India in early 2008.”The uncertainty of projected revenues was one of the main reasons that the ACB agreed to the introduction of the revenue-sharing model in the first place,” May wrote. “It’s of massive benefit for them. Ask any business if they would like to make their largest expense variable and I suspect they would jump at the chance. For CA to imply that the shared risk-and-reward ideology is outdated is nonsense. Far from being obsolete, it is more relevant now than perhaps any time in the past 20 years.”Scheduling disputes, unforeseen circumstances and uncertainty around ICC distributions can play havoc with projected revenues, placing CA in danger of not being able to meet other obligations, such as development of the game. In 2008, when the Indian team threatened to go home after the Sydney Test, CA faced a revenue black hole amounting to tens of millions in TV rights.”Uncertainty to do with global issues is a genuine concern. These days we have heightened security challenges and the spectre of terrorism. There is the possibility the international cricket schedule could be affected, leaving Australia in a bind. These are valid and sensible current arguments to keep player expenses in line with the fluctuations of revenue.”

Simon Harmer claimed a six-wicket haul as Essex made Warwickshire follow on at Chelmsford

David Hopps at Chelmsford21-Jun-2017
Scorecard”We’re all mercenaries now,” said Brendon McCullum at the launch of South Africa’s T20 competition. At least you had to admire his honesty. T20 imports, like politicians, probably need aides alongside them to remind them what town they are in, and which dressing room to go into. If they ever feel insecure or rootless, presumably they just call up their bank balance.Similar accusations are levelled against the rush of South Africans now plying their trade in county cricket. Signed in a rush while Britain remains in the EU, and while the reciprocal labour deal survives, it does not take much for their emotional commitment to be questioned.They stalk the counties, making big runs, taking wickets and, by and large, lifting standards. In Premier League football, such signings are viewed as glamorous, part and parcel of the claim to be the best league in the world; in county cricket, the resentment over their short-termism and the loss of a place for an England-qualified player is never far away. The story is a more complex one.In this fraught climate, occasionally a player can become a much-loved member of county cricket’s community. Simon Harmer gives the impression that he can become one of those players. There is something about Harmer that suggests he will not be the sort of Kolpak signing who mentally never unpacks his suitcase. Essex, having initially offered him a one-year deal, have quickly upped it to three. He is seen as a good bowler and a good sort.Wickets will help, of course, and as Essex, the leaders, pressed for victory against Warwickshire, Harmer delivered them, his Championship tally lifted to 25. On a straw-coloured Chelmsford pitch now turning big but slowly, his offspin is central to Essex’s chances of victory. His 6 for 92 in 45.5 overs – the prime reason that Warwickshire followed on 258 behind – made that abundantly clear.In all, including a brief foray in Warwickshire’s second innings – the deficit cut to 231 for the loss of Ian Westwood and Jonathan Trott – Harmer bowled 39 overs in the day. By the end, he must have been so weary that even his floppy fringe failed to spring to attention in his bowling action with its usual vigour. He left the field to a guard of honour.Harmer bowled at the Hayes Close End from 11.30am until 4.35pm, with only breaks for lunch and tea. His afternoon stint returned 17-10-20-1. Throughout, his predatory semi-circle of close catchers lived in anticipation of reward. Warwickshire’s batsmen became increasingly becalmed. It is not often that Rikki Clarke takes 30 balls to get off the mark but he did so here, reaching 7 in 45 balls in all before Harmer’s big break-back had him lbw. With a quicker pitch, his rewards might have come quickly. Instead, he needed resolve as well as skill.Simon Harmer chiselled through Warwickshire’s batting•Getty Images

He seemed to have been given a well-deserved breather at one stage but it was only for a change of ends. That gambit brought rewards with three wickets in 17 balls to round up the lower order, lbw decisions against Keith Barker and Boyd Rankin and Jeetan Patel succumbing to a return catch.Patel had laid about him with gusto. Of his 71 from as many balls, – a season’s best – 36 came off Harmer in only 28 balls, all but one of them on the leg-side as he struck out with the spin to good effect.Apart from Patel, the only other Warwickshire innings of note was from Sam Hain, whose 58 was his first half-century in a season studded by a series of single-figure innings. He fell to a cracking wicketkeeper’s catch by James Foster, who had received a sighter the previous delivery when Hain’s edge bisected him and Alastair Cook at first slip. Ian Bell reached 32 before he jabbed a turning ball to slip.It might be that Harmer delivered the coup de grace with the last ball of the day. If you want a batsman to block out a final day, there are still few better choices than Trott, a batsman blessed with the method and mindset to slow life down. But he fell to a leave-alone, lbw, to give Harmer his seventh and final wicket of a productive day. No drip-fed resistance from Trott then in the closing hours.Trott has already summoned defiant hundreds against Surrey and Hampshire this season, both to no avail, but he fell twice in a manner that will not resonate easily with him. It was the combative left-arm pace of Neil Wagner that had defeated him at the start of the third day: a top-edged boundary against the fourth ball of the day when he ducked a bouncer but left his bat in the air; his dismissal against the next when he pulled to square leg.If Trott is feeling the effects of a challenging Warwickshire season, their chances of survival will be so much lower. They can begin with a defiant draw on the final day, but the odds are firmly with Essex – and an offspinner rapidly planting himself in the county’s affections. County cricket still hankers after loyalty and will open its arms to all who give it.

Sean Dickson hit a career-best unbeaten double century and Joe Denly notched his third hundred of the summer as Kent enjoyed a first-day run fest

ECB Reporters Network03-Jul-2017
ScorecardSean Dickson hit a career-best unbeaten double century and Joe Denly notched his third hundred of the summer as Kent enjoyed a first-day run fest in their Specsavers County Championship match with Northamptonshire in Beckenham.Kent cashed in on a Worsley Bridge Road shirt-front after winning the toss to post 434 for 1 after 96 overs with Dickson and Denly unbeaten on 210 and 143 respectively as Sam Northeast’s promotion-chasers racked up maximum batting bonus points at a canter.The total already represents Kent’s best at this venue, while Dickson’s 210 is his career-best as well as the highest individual score at the ground, beating Ben Duckett’s 207* here last season. Dickson also became the first Kent player in history to post double tons as his first two first-class centuries for the county.In adding an unbroken 305 the pair also moved past the previous second-wicket record of 260 against Northamptonshire set by Arthur Fagg and Frank Woolley at Canterbury in 1934. And, when Denly pulled a short one from Nathan Buck for four in the day’s penultimate over, he raised their 300 stand to beat Kent’s record for any wicket against Northants of 296 set by Ken Hutchings and Frank Woolley at Gravesend in 1908. For good measure, the stand is also a record for any wicket at the ground.As for Northamptonshire, they will look to their ill fortune earlier in the day when they might have dismissed Dickson twice before he had even reached three figures.Dickson, the 25-year-old South African right-hander, joined forces with fellow opener Daniel Bell-Drummond to post 129 either side of lunch – their second-best partnership of the season behind their 172 against Sussex at Tunbridge Wells last month.Bell-Drummond went one short of his 50 soon after lunch when edging a back-foot defensive push to the keeper off Ben Sanderson and it transpired to be the visitors’ sole success of the day.Dickson was on 35 when he survived a concerted shout for lbw against Buck then, with his score on 97, Dickson drove hard at an away swinger from Buck only to be given the benefit of the doubt to another loud appeal for a catch behind the stumps.Sean Dickson converted into his second double century•Getty Images

With the luck on his side, Dickson marched on to a 165-ball 100 with 10 fours and a six then Denly reached the milestone from 132 balls with six fours and three sixes.Northamptonshire tried permutating seven bowlers and delayed taking the second new ball in a desperate bid to curtail the run-rate but, when they finally did take it, their worst fears were realised as Denly cracked it to all parts in a sublime display of driving.Just before the close, Dickson clipped sweetly off his pads against Steven Crook to hit the ropes for a 20th time and raise his double hundred from 280 balls.Northamptonshire skipper Alex Wakely described Kent’s run-fest as his’toughest day in any form of cricket’, adding: “We’ve walked off
with smiles on our faces because we’re not quite sure what we might have done differently or what to say about it. A couple of
opportunities and appeals didn’t go our way early on but apart from that both Denly and Dickson played really well.”I haven’t had a tougher day in cricket than this and can’t remember a day when we’ve only ever picked up one wicket in the three sessions.
We’ve been playing some really good cricket of late so I’m going to give Kent the credit they deserve.Dickson needs a further 66 runs on day two to better Matt Walker’s all-time individual record total for the county,He said: “I’m a little bit overwhelmed by it all at the moment if I’m quite honest and feel shattered. The last nine overs were a massive challenge for me out there and I just tried to remember what one old, wise man said to me the once , that ‘double hundreds don’t come your way every day’. I said to Joe that I needed a little energy spurt, a mind switch to get myself across the line to 200 and thankfully I found it from somewhere.”There’s a massive amount of emotion after this for me. I have made four ducks this season at at times it’s been a massive mental
struggle, but I’ve been hitting balls superbly well of late with no result.”

Barbados Tridents needed a massive win to remain in contention for the Playoffs but could only muster a 16-run victory despite Wayne Parnell’s excellent performances with bat and ball

The Report by Peter Della Penna03-Sep-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWayne Parnell revived Tridents’ innings and then snuffed out three wickets in the chase•Ashley Allen – CPL T20 / Getty

Wayne Parnell’s terrific display with bat and ball hauled Barbados Tridents to a 16-run win over table-toppers Trinbago Knight Riders at Kensington Oval. However, the narrow margin of victory still left Tridents on the brink of elimination. They are placed fifth, behind Guyana Amazon Warriors, with net run rate of -0.405, and face the improbable task of having to win their final league match by 220 runs to qualify for the play-offs.Parnell’s unbeaten 44 at No. 9 rescued Tridents from 62 for 7 in the 10th over. He followed up his highest T20 score with figures of 3 for 31, and sent Brendon McCullum to the hospital with a blow to his left arm to wreck the Knight Riders chase. McCullum later confirmed that he won’t be taking any further part in the tournament, tweeting “@CPL over for this year unfort. Been a ride with @TKRiders brothers! Many thanks to all for your support! Luck team!”Hero to zeroDwayne Smith, Tridents’ centurion in their previous match, fended an edge off Anderson Phillip to Denesh Ramdin second ball after they were sent in to bat.Kane Williamson’s forgettable debut season continued with him caught behind for 6. The New Zealand captain has now failed to reach double-figures in more than half his innings this CPL.Nurse ratchets up the pressureOffspinner Ashley Nurse had gone wicketless in his first two matches after coming on as a mid-season addition to the Knight Riders squad. He was still named in the West Indies T20I squad to face England later in the month, and celebrated his recall with a wicket off his first ball, suckering Nicholas Pooran into an ill-advised slog to long-off. Two more wickets from Shadab Khan, along with a pair of run-outs, left the Tridents looking grim at 62 for 7 in the 10th over.Wayne’s worldTridents were in danger of being bowled out for double-digits for the second time in three matches when Parnell entered. It wasn’t the most glamorous knock, with several miscues falling in no man’s land, but he showed grit that the recognised batsmen before him lacked, and ensured his team had something to bowl at.Just as vital was his new-ball spell that decimated the Knight Riders top-order. Parnell claimed Sunil Narine in the second over before Colin Munro slogged a catch to deep square leg. He then pinged McCullum on the elbow, forcing him to retire hurt and effectively left Knight Riders 41 for 3. Two balls later, Ravi Rampaul had Darren Bravo fending a short ball to backward point.Follow the leaderNot for the first time this season, Pollard produced a disciplined and inspired display with the ball, building on Parnell’s early spell to keep Knight Riders in check. He had Ramdin caught behind in the 10th over and Shadab followed suit as the score flagged to 67 for 5.There was a brief swing in momentum when Parnell, returning in the 17th over, was smacked for 19 off five balls by Javon Searles. Knight Riders now needed a far more manageable 31 off 21 balls.But Parnell hit back, bowling Nurse to wrap up his spell, and the match ended with Searles splicing a slog to short third man and McCullum unable to resume batting.

Under pressure to retain his spot with the Ashes looming, Matthew Wade says it’s just a matter of time before he comes good with the bat

Alagappan Muthu in Nagpur30-Sep-20171:24

‘My performances with the bat haven’t been good enough’ – Wade

Having made his debut in 2012, Matthew Wade scored his maiden ODI century earlier this year, an innings of exactly 100 that helped Australia recover from 5 for 78 to eventually win that match, against Pakistan, by 92 runs. However, his performances since then read 35 (off 56 balls), 5, 8, 2, 9, 2 and 3 not out.Despite being the only specialist wicketkeeper in Australia’s squad, Wade was left out, with Peter Handscomb taking over the duties for one of the four ODIs in the ongoing series against India. He knows he needs to respond to that situation, especially with the Ashes looming, and competition heating up – Peter Nevill scored three first-class centuries in 11 innings since being dropped in November and 26-year old Alex Carey set a Sheffield Shield record of 59 dismissals for South Australia last season.”There is no point sitting up here and thinking about what has already happened,” Wade said on the eve of the Nagpur ODI. “My form with the bat has not been good enough. The selectors have told me that I need score runs if I need to be picked.”A lot has been made about me failing in the Bangladesh and couple of times here. But before I played in India I was batting really well. I would have liked to score more runs in this series but that’s not happened. If I think back to the way I was batting in India [during the Test series] I played quite well. It is not panic stations yet and I know what I have to do.”Wade was brought back into the XI in Bengaluru, but he could only face three balls as the Australian innings ended. He is not part of the T20 squad and so will have to focus on making an immediate mark in the 2017-18 Shield season, which begins on October 26.”They will be crucial for my chances. I’m not worried about the matches, I have to score runs any time I have to go bat. I have to score runs regardless of if I’m trying to score runs for the Ashes or getting picked for Australia or whoever I’m playing for at the time. Doesn’t faze me, I have been doing all the hard work it just hasn’t happened for me yet.”Wade insisted that he has not heard any complaints about his wicketkeeping. He had given away 30 runs in byes during the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka, but came back in Chittagong quite strongly, effecting three catches and two stumpings, including one off a ball that reared up towards his chest.”I thought I kept quite well in Bangladesh, I know there was lot of talk especially during the first Test with the number of byes I conceded. But if you look at their keeper [Mushfiqur Rahim conceded 22 byes] and given the conditions I thought we were quite similar. I felt in the second test especially, I took some good chances. I have been pretty good here, on the back of India where I felt I kept quite well. Selectors have told me there have been no concerns with my keeping. They just want me to score more runs.”Having represented Victoria since the age of 19, Wade will return home to Tasmania for the 2017-18 domestic season. He said he took the decision to end a 153-match association with the Bushrangers, whom he had captained for the past four seasons, keeping in mind his young family.”I was picked in the Test team I was travelling quite a lot and just had a baby girl at the time so I wanted to be around the family,” he said. “My partner Julia and the baby – to have a lot of family with her has been really good. I’m looking forward to playing for Tasmania, I will have a few days off then play one-dayers followed by the shield games. It is a bit of fresh start but I’m really looking forward to.”

D’Arcy Short then made quick work of the small target, as he smashed an unbeaten 119 in 92 balls

Daniel Brettig17-Oct-2017
ScorecardSimon Mackin celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

Western Australia cruised into the domestic limited-overs final with a comprehensive defeat of the Cricket Australia XI at North Sydney Oval – on a different pitch to that used during Sunday’s abandoned match between New South Wales and Victoria.After the CA XI were given a reasonable platform by Beau Webster (52) and Clint Hinchcliffe (49), Simon Mackin fired out five batsmen out of six to mean the Warriors were set an underwhelming target of 180.D’Arcy Short then made quick work of the chase, hammering a century at the top of the WA order after the coach Justin Langer chose to grant opportunities to him and Hilton Cartwright ahead of the in-form opening pair of Shaun Marsh and Michael Klinger.Cartwright, who had opened for Australia in the recent ODI series in India, was overshadowed by Short’s pyrotechnics, which granted WA a bonus point with more than 19 overs to spare.

Technical director Zubin Bharucha also exits, but franchise retain services of assistant coaches S Sriram and Pravin Amre

Arun Venugopal16-Nov-2017Delhi Daredevils are set to appoint a new coaching staff after parting ways with head coach Paddy Upton and technical director Zubin Bharucha. TA Sekar, their director, has also resigned citing personal reasons, but assistant coaches S Sriram and Pravin Amre will remain with the franchise.Earlier this year, Daredevils lost the services of Rahul Dravid as chief mentor, after he opted to remain as coach of the India A and India Under-19 sides. As per the new conflict of interest regulations, Dravid couldn’t be associated with an IPL franchise while working with the national side.Daredevils CEO Hemant Dua said that the decision to not extend Upton and Bharucha’s contracts was mutual. “It was a two-year contract, and when the tenure ended both the parties chose to not extend the contract,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “They wanted to do their own thing after Rahul’s decision [to move on]. They have been a team all this while, so we respect their decision.”Dua confirmed that the franchise has initiated the process of identifying a new head coach and that there would be a restructuring of the coaching staff. “We are in the process and working on it and waiting for some things to settle down,” he said. “We will see what is needed, but I think we will restructure a little bit and then we will present it in a new way. We will announce [the new head coach] in probably the next few weeks.”Sekar’s exit is notable, considering that except for a brief stint with Mumbai Indians, he was a part of the Daredevils unit since the inaugural IPL in 2008. “We are naturally very disappointed to not have Sekar in our midst going forward, but as a franchise we clearly understand his position,” Dua said. “Sekar was an invaluable asset, and his departure leaves a vacuum that will be difficult to fill.”Dua also said that the question of installing a director would be addressed after the appointment of the new head coach.Sekar expressed gratitude to the Daredevils management. “It has been a very difficult decision for me to make, but it was for purely personal reasons,” he was quoted as saying in a statement. “I’m grateful for the support and understanding from the franchise.”Daredevils are yet to win an IPL title and haven’t qualified for the knockouts since 2012. Most recently under Dravid and Upton, they finished sixth in 2016 and 2017.

Jamaica’s spin duo of Nikita Miller and Damion Jacobs spun a web around Leeward Islands to register a massive 157-run win in St Kitts

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Nov-2017WICB

Jamaica’s duo of Nikita Miller and Damion Jacobs spun a web around Leeward Islands to register a massive 157-run win in St Kitts. Left-arm spinner Miller collected 10 wickets while Jacobs picked two three-fors to bundle out Leeward for 232 and 144. Jamaica, however, are still second from bottom on the table after picking 18.4 points from the win.Jamaica put on a respectable score of 342 after winning the toss, on the back of half-centuries from Paul Palmer (86), Assad Fudadin (58) and John Campbell (57) as offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall’s 4 for 86 meant Jamaica didn’t put on a competitive total. The Leeward batsmen could not capitalise though, as Miller’s 5 for 56 and Jacobs’ 3 for 35 allowed only one batsman – Montcin Hodge – to reach 50, and they conceded a lead of 110.Cornwall took four wickets again and troubled Jamaica’s middle order to restrict them to 191, as No. 7 Derval Green provided resistance with his 51. Jacobs and Miller troubled Leeward with the bat too, putting on 46 for the ninth wicket before combining to take eight wickets as Leeward chased 302 for a win. With only two batsmen reaching 30, they were kept to 144 for only six points but are still second on the table behind Guyana.

South Africa’s head coach knows the fast bowler could be undercooked following his long injury layoff and doesn’t want him breaking down mid-Test

Firdose Moonda in Cape Town02-Jan-20184:43

Know your opponent: Dale Steyn

At least one of South Africa’s selection conundrums appears to have already been solved with Dale Steyn’s comeback likely to be delayed by another week. Conditions at Newlands usually call for a three-seamer, one spinner attack (to which South Africa might add an allrounder). Given Steyn’s lengthy absence from international cricket, coach Ottis Gibson appears reluctant to include him in that combination.”Dale Steyn is fit again. But I don’t know just yet whether we will see him this week,” Gibson said. “He has had a year’s layoff. I don’t think if we were to pick a three-man seam attack plus a spinner that you would want to put him in that three-man attack, in case something happens and that leaves the team vulnerable if he can’t finish the game. That’s not to say that he won’t finish the game, but you don’t want to take that risk in the first game of the summer. He will come into the discussion but it depends on the formation of the team that we put on the field.”Those who have been waiting to see Steyn steaming in may not have to wait much beyond the first 10 days of January. Gibson has described his use of South Africa’s full strength squad as being a “horses for courses” approach and suggested that the pace spearhead will be unleashed on the Highveld, where the second and third Test will be played.”You’re looking at three different sets of conditions,” Gibson said. “Down here on the coast, the wicket tends to dry out quickly so you might play an extra bowler [allrounder] here. Further up into the Highveld, it might be different. We have to take each set of conditions as we find them now and then pick the best team for them.”The extra week could also be used to get Steyn properly match-fit. Though the franchises are involved in the one-day cup, Steyn could play in a three-day provincial round of matches which would allow him to bowl several spells in competitive conditions to prepare himself to compete on equal terms with the other five quicks – Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo – in a team that should have an attack for every occasion.”This is a world-class bowling attack and we’ve got to come up with the best combination to win this match and then think about the next one,” Gibson said. “But certainly this attack, if all those guys are able to take the field then this will be up there with the best ones.”It is this attack that he hopes South Africa will be able to call on as they aim to challenge for the top spot in Test cricket again. Currently, they lie at No. 2 and will need a clean sweep over India and to beat Australia by a margin of at least two Tests in order to reclaim the mace. While this may be a long shot, it is also probably the only shot Gibson will get at making a serious challenge in Tests.South Africa’s schedule peters out after this summer, with only a tour to Sri Lanka and home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan before the 2019 World Cup, which Gibson has been tasked with winning. While the ICC tournament remains Gibson’s major focus, he understands this Test summer could also define his tenure as coach.”In one-day cricket, I don’t worry too much about rankings because it’s built around a four-year cycle of World Cup cricket,” he said. “You can be No. 1 in the world and you don’t win the World Cup. It doesn’t matter where you are once you go to the World Cup. In Test cricket it’s different. You play a series against the best teams in the world and then the prize at the end of it is to reach the pinnacle and be called the best team in the world – even if it is just for a series or a week. The objective for this team is to try and get to No. 1. We feel strongly that if we win the next two series that will put us somewhere very close to being No. 1 again. The next two series will tell us [where we stand] or take us somewhere towards where we want to go. Everybody understands what we are trying to achieve.”Gibson has a full strength squad at his disposal with all the previously injured and ill players now available for selection. Apart from Steyn, South Africa also have AB de Villiers back from a self-imposed sabbatical, Chris Morris has been included in the squad after a lengthy back problem, Quinton de Kock has recovered from a hamstring strain and Faf du Plessis is healthy after a viral infection. There is a slight concern over Hashim Amla, who has picked up “sniffles”, but Gibson expects all 15 members of his squad to be in contention to play the opening Test at Newlands which starts on Friday.