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The USA Cricket Association announced on Tuesday the appointment of former England Under-19 and Canada coach Andy Pick as USACA High Performance Manager in a move aimed at helping the USA form a more professional administrative cricket structure

Peter Della Penna14-Aug-2013The USA Cricket Association announced on Tuesday the appointment of former England Under-19 and Canada coach Andy Pick as USACA High Performance Manager in a move aimed at helping the USA form a more professional administrative cricket structure. Pick has been serving as the ICC Americas High Performance Manager since 2009 and will still be partially employed in that role as he splits his workload between the ICC Americas office in Toronto and USACA’s headquarters in Florida.”There is a lot of natural talent in the USA,” Pick said in a USACA media release. “In the past, the pathway from talent discovery through to players becoming established international cricketers has not always been clear. Having been involved in high performance planning and delivery for the last 14 years, I hope I can make that pathway more accessible and transparent.”The official announcement of Pick’s new role with USACA was hinted at through his more frequent appearances around USA teams and programmes in the past six months. In March, he was in Florida for USA’s unofficial three-match 50-over series against Bermuda ahead of ICC WCL Division Three and was present as a sounding board during selection meetings to pick the squad that went to Bermuda a month later for the tournament.In June, he organised and oversaw the inaugural USACA U-19 Selection Combine, which was designed as a new method to select USA’s U-19 squad for the ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament. In the past, USACA had used domestic tournaments as a selection mechanism. Pick was in constant contact with USACA chief executive Darren Beazley while at the ICC Americas U-19 tournament and at the conclusion of the July event, he drove from Toronto to Miami to work with Beazley on a plan for the USA senior team to prepare them for the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in November.”USACA is extremely pleased to have the support of an experienced cricket administrator such as Andy Pick to provide a dedicated focus on establishing the correct structures and processes to ensure USACA identifies and develops talent, wherever talented men and women reside across the country,” Beazley said in the release. “His intimate knowledge of cricket in the USA and of our playing lists will be very important, particularly as our men’s team commences preparation for the ICC T20 Qualifer in Dubai in November.”Pick has been a regular source of guidance and assistance to the USA through his ICC Americas position. In the winter of 2011, he spent time in New York and New Jersey organising weekly training courses for the region’s junior players and coaches. He also set up a coaching clinic in March 2011 for the New York Public Schools Athletic League, the only high school cricket league in USA.In April 2011, he organised a month-long training stint with reigning English county champions Nottinghamshire – where Pick played from 1983 to 1997 and also served as bowling coach – for USA players Muhammad Ghous and Adrian Gordon. Four months later, Pick and ICC Americas colleague Wendell Coppin conducted a 10-day training camp in Barbados for the USA Women’s team to aid their preparation for the 2011 ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh.In October 2010, Pick stated in an interview with ESPNcricinfo that he was impressed with the “abundance of natural talent” in the USA, but was worried that structures were not in place for proper development. “If I’m brutally honest, they have at the moment little framework beneath it to continue providing and developing their best players. That is part of my role, to try to work with the US to see if we can help rectify that situation.” With his new role at USACA, Pick now has more control and authority to carry out that mission.

Kevin Pietersen will return to action for Surrey in Sunday’s CB40 match against one of his previous clubs, Hampshire, at West End

George Dobell17-Aug-2012Kevin Pietersen will return to action for Surrey in Sunday’s CB40 match against one of his previous clubs, Hampshire, at West End.Pietersen, who was dropped from the England side for the final Test of the series against South Africa at Lord’s following an incident where he sent what he termed ‘provocative’ texts about England captain Andrew Strauss to members of the South Africa team, is anxious to win a recall to England’s limited-overs squads. The ECB will announce the squads for the World Twenty20 and the limited-overs series against South Africa on Tuesday.The ECB have also released Pietersen for the CB40 against Glamorgan at the Oval on Tuesday, a game which will be used to launch the Tom Maynard Trust, a charity founded in memory of the Surrey and Glamorgan batsman who died in tragic circumstances in June aged just 23. No decision has yet been made about the playing commitments of any of England’s other contracted players beyond Tuesday.Surrey will be grateful for Pietersen’s return. Their form has deteriorated since the death of Maynard, with Mark Ramprakash retiring and Rory Hamilton-Brown taking extended compassionate leave and relinquishing the captaincy. They can still retain the CB40 trophy they won last year, however, and go into Sunday’s game against Hampshire just a point behind the hosts with a game in hand.Quite what reception Pietersen can expect remains to be seen. He left Hampshire under something of a cloud in 2010 having complained about the distance of the ground from his Chelsea home and the events of recent weeks will have done little to win over those who were unimpressed by him then.

An unbeaten century by Middlesex allrounder Jamie Dalrymple lit up a grey day in Guildford as hosts Surrey lost their way in the second division derby clash

21-Jul-2011
ScorecardAn unbeaten century by Middlesex allrounder Jamie Dalrymple lit up a grey day in Guildford as hosts Surrey lost their way in the second division derby clash. Having reduced the visitors to 51 for 4 on a rain-affected opening day, Surrey failed to capitalise on their enterprising start by allowing Dalrymple to blast a 164-ball hundred and steer the visitors through to a respectable 308 all out.Having rejoined Middlesex in the off season following a three-year stint with Glamorgan, Dalrymple collected 16 fours and a brace of sixes in his 122 not out – the 11th first-class ton of his career and his first since re-joining the county. After a 45-minute delay for drizzle at the start of the day, Dalrymple – 10 not out overnight – set about frustrating the Surrey seam attack with a sensible blend of tenacious defence and bludgeoning attacking strokes.He and Chris Rogers combined to add 101 for the fifth wicket before the latter fell for 59, leg before on the back foot to a Zander de Bruyn off-cutter. Surrey initially appeared to rally after the lunch break when John Simpson also went leg before to De Bruyn for 15, but heads appeared to drop when Gareth Batty downed two slip chances in successive overs, including Dalrymple on 51.Batty made it third time lucky by snaffling another chance off Tim Linley to account for Steven Crook and then Tim Murtagh, who got the toe end of the bat on a wide one from Jade Dernbach and again diverted it to first slip. Steven Finn chipped a comfortable return catch to Batty to make it 237 for 9 and bring in Middlesex’s last man, Corry Collymore, but still Surrey struggled to finish the job off.At one point Dalrymple and Collymore stood virtually side by side at one end of the pitch, only for Surrey to make a hash of the run-out attempt, and Dalrymple again made them pay. While Collymore stubbornly held up one end, Dalrymple went for his shots. He slog swept, cover drove and then flat-batted a long hop to the ropes to move into the 90s as Batty conceded 15 in one over, including three Dalrymple boundaries.The right-hander went down on one knee to hoist a glorious off drive for six against De Bruyn and, having broken his bat, changed blades to hook a Stuart Meaker bouncer for six over long leg as Middlesex posted a third batting point after reaching 300.Having added 71 for the last wicket, their fun finally came to an end when, under leaden skies, Collymore (7) steered a short one into the hands of Tom Maynard at gully to give Linley, the pick of a misfiring attack, figures of 3 for 60. The innings closed just after 4pm, but rain arrived soon after to prevent the start of Surrey’s reply.

The Hot Spot imaging technology favoured by the players for its accuracy will most likely not be used in the World Cup

Tariq Engineer03-Aug-2010While the ICC is keen on using the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) at next year’s World Cup, the tournament is unlikely to see Hot Spot, the technology most favoured by the players for its accuracy. Contrary to reports, a combination of a shortage of cameras, the high cost of acquiring and using the technology, and the sensitive nature of the equipment, makes it almost impossible for the technology to be in place by February.”For the World Cup 2011, there is no chance for Hot Spot being available for all 50+ early round matches,” Warren Brennan, the owner of BBG Sports, the firm that supplies the technology, told Cricinfo in an email. “At present we only have four Hot Spot cameras, this would limit us to providing Hot Spot for only quarter-final matches onwards.”This would include two cameras for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, with the possibility of four cameras for the final in Mumbai. This is something I have discussed with Dave Richardson from the ICC, but have not had any updates in the past 6 weeks.”According to Brennan, to have had enough cameras for the World Cup, an order for an additional eight to 10 Hot Spot cameras should have been placed in January or February this year. The cameras take four to six months to build and there are only four or five companies in the world that have the know-how to make them.And each time BBG wants to buy a new one, it has to undergo a security check because the cameras are classified as military equipment. These checks can take up to three months to complete. “We have to go through various processes,” Brennan said. “Are they good guys? Can we trust them? Have they sold any cameras to Al-Qaeda? You can’t just go into a 7-Eleven and buy one. “Brennan also said he needs help from the ICC and the boards to bring the cost of the system down. Hot Spot, which uses infra-red imaging technology to determine whether the ball has struck the bat, pad or batsman, currently costs $6,000 per day for a two-camera setup and $10,000 per day for a four-camera setup.Under the current system, the broadcaster has to bear the cost of using the UDRS but isn’t always able to do so. Pakistan, for example, opted not to have the referral system when they played Australia in England because it was unaffordable. “They [the ICC] know that if they want to take the system further, they have to figure out the funding models,” Brennan said.The absence of Hot Spot does not rule out the possibility of UDRS being used in the World Cup. The ICC’s minimum requirements for the referral system only include ball tracking technology (Hawk-Eye), super slow-motion cameras and a clean audio feed from the stump microphone. Hot Spot is “desirable”, but not a requirement at this point, according to an ICC spokesperson.But some top players have spoken out in favour of Hot Spot, the most recent being Sachin Tendulkar. After completing his fifth Test double-hundred in the second Test against Sri Lanka, Tendulkar made it clear he prefers Hot Spot over the basic UDRS.”I am not fully convinced with the referral system (UDRS),” Tendulkar said. “When I was here last time I was not convinced with many decisions. I did not feel comfortable; it was an experiment which I felt. I would rather go with the Hot Spot because that establishes the contact between the bat and the ball. That it is far better system according to me. The Hot Spot is much better.”

Abhishek Sharma is set to open with Gill; India likely to hand a number of debuts in this series

Alagappan Muthu05-Jul-20242:07

Gill: ‘Difficult for me to try and achieve what Rohit and Kohli have’

Big picture – Opportunities galore

The new T20 World Cup champions were given a rousing welcome on their return home but even as the country celebrates their history-makers, one eye turns towards the future.Fifteen of India’s promising colts – captained by Shubman Gill – are in Zimbabwe now laying the groundwork for the time that they too may one day experience: the high of an open-top bus parade with fans as far as the eye can see serenading them.Related

• Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag, Nitish Reddy in India's T20I squad for Zimbabwe tour

• After T20 World Cup euphoria, India begin quest for a new generation of champions

• Riyan Parag: 'I wanted to know more about my game, because I've been lost inside those 22 yards too many times'

There are spots up for grabs. Two of them, in particular, which Gill, Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be trying to make their own. Rinku Singh was there in Barbados but only as reserve. He’ll want to fix that. Riyan Parag is starting to make good on his promise. Washington Sundar is 24 and injury-free with India potentially needing a new spin-bowling allrounder in their first-choice XI.Zimbabwe will see opportunity too, not least in upsetting the newly-minted champions after being unable to make the World Cup. Hosting an India series brings an influx of money and no shortage of eyeballs, some of whom might be on the lookout for skills that can translate to success in the various franchise tournaments happening around the world. These days, a cricket match is not just a chance to bring glory to the team.

Form guide

Zimbabwe WLLLL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
India WWWWW

In the spotlight – Shubman Gill and Sikandar Raza

Shubman Gill is in the middle of a bit of a blip. His first real brush with captaincy, through April and May, didn’t go as planned with Gujarat Titans finishing eighth out of ten teams in IPL 2024. His time with India at the T20 World Cup in June was very brief but now in July he finds himself with the power to do what he likes, at least for the course of these five matches. Will he bat like India want their players to, with aggression from the first ball, or will he do something different?Sikandar Raza will look to find form•AFP/Getty Images

Zimbabwe tripped up, badly, in the Africa T20 World Cup qualifiers in November 2023. Sikandar Raza was captain. They hosted Ireland in December, but after an excellent all-round contribution in a one-wicket victory, he was suspended from the rest of the series due to an on-field altercation. Then Raza lost his form, with four single-digit scores in six T20I innings, but his last one was a match-winning half-century against Bangladesh. He’s also produced good showings for Northamptonshire in the Vitality Blast (206 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 153). Raza’s back on the up and he wants his team to be as well.

Team news – Count the debuts

This India squad is very much a work in progress so the XIs that come out of it might not have all their bases covered. The batting, for example, might only go down as far as No. 7 which certainly does not encourage the hit-every-ball-out-of-the-park philosophy they are trying to perfect. Also, the players themselves haven’t proven themselves at this level. Then again, they haven’t been exposed to it all that often either. Look out for debuts. There could be four or five. Gill confirmed Abhishek Sharma will open the batting alongside him.India (probable): 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Dhruv Jurel/Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Avesh Khan, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Khaleel AhmedZimbabwe are searching for new talent themselves. Some of their better-known players like Sean Williams and Craig Ervine weren’t considered for this series and Ryan Burl has been dropped. Wessly Madhevere and Brandon Mavuta, though, are back in contention after serving out four-month suspensions for drug use.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Tadiwanashe Marumani, 3 Sikandar Raza (capt), 4 Johnathan Campbell, 5 Antum Naqvi, 6 Clive Madande (wk), 7 Wessly Madhevere, 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Faraz Akram, 10 Wellington Masakadza, 11 Blessing Muzarabani

Pitch and conditions – Runs at a premium

This will be Harare’s first T20I of the year. First-innings totals in the recent past have been a bit middling, with only five of the last 12, going past 150. In those last 12 matches, spinners (69 wickets at 19.71 and economy rate of 6.6) have done better than the fast bowlers (80 wickets at 25.92 and an economy rate of 7.82). There is no threat of rain with temperatures in the mid-20C.

Stats and trivia

• India have faced Zimbabwe in only eight T20Is over the course of 14 years. They’ve won six and lost two.
• Raza needs 53 more to become the first Zimbabwean to score 2000 runs in T20Is.

Pessimism abounds after early Lancashire wickets before Abell and Rew fashion prolonged resistance

Paul Edwards20-Apr-2023
Those readers familiar with the oeuvre of Chris Sandford might recall that one of his early hits, “Not too Little, Not too Much” reached No 17 in the charts nearly 60 years ago. The song’s publicity was enhanced by it being included in an episode of the soap in which Sandford played the part of the window-cleaner, Walter Potts. Throughout the history of cricket, however, the title might have stood as an axiom for bowlers of all stripes and persuasions: move the ball too little and most idiots can play it; move it too much and only the Gods nick off.James Anderson has delivered plenty of the latter and occasionally offered a wry smile when he did so. But given that he has bowled more than a thousand balls that strike a perfectly destructive compromise between the two extremes, he can afford to do so. The discouraging thing for Somerset’s batsmen on the first morning of this game – and what made their subsequent achievement all the more memorable – is that Anderson’s thirst for success shows no sign of being slaked.Rather like Derek Underwood, who celebrated every success, Burnley’s finest takes more wickets partly because he very much wants to. And so driven, he picked up two more inside the first 45 minutes at the County Ground as neither Sean Dickson, who was haplessly half-forward, nor Tom Lammonby, who failed to cover the movement off the seam, could deal with him. Nobody who watched those dismissals contemplated the likelihood of the day ending with just two more wickets falling and matters ending in a golden light with applause for two Somerset centurions.Instead, it got worse for the locals in the first session and people merely shrugged when it did. None of the home side’s specialist batsmen began this game with an aggregate of 100 runs from four innings and Somerset had lost one game and been on the wrong end of a draw in the other.Their coach, Jason Kerr, had sought refuge in metonymy: “The dressing room is hurting,” he said, and so one assumes the pain deepened when Cameron Bancroft edged Tom Bailey to George Bell and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, having made 38 runs in an hour, whipped Colin de Grandhomme off his hip and saw the ball sail into the hands of Bailey at long leg. In the context of Somerset’s current needs, Kohler-Cadmore’s innings resembled some of West Ham United’s football in the 1970s: it was attractive but ineffectual.Pleasingly, therefore, for most of the spectators who thronged the James Hildreth Stand and maybe also for the students whose singing enlivened the afternoon session, the home side’s fortunes improved rather dramatically in the remainder of the day. Unexpected, one or two dour locals might have called it but that adjective does little honour to the batting of Tom Abell and James Rew, whose unbroken 231-run stand was studded with fine strokes. For many, the second-best moment of the partnership arrived when Abell thick-edged de Grandhomme past slip to go to the 14th first-class century of his career. There should be no surprise at this reaction. Abell’s loyalties to his county go marrow-deep and that love is reciprocated by many in this ground’s four pavilions.But 19-year-old Rew also looks an exceptional prospect and appears to have more strokes around the wicket than his captain, whose gorgeous on-drive nevertheless signs his best innings. For his part, Lancashire’s skipper, Keaton Jennings, was left to rotate his bowlers to a degree he might not have envisaged. For example, at 3.20, left-arm spinner Tom Hartley was given his first bowl of the day, only to be driven through the covers by Rew before being whacked over midwicket, a stroke that took the lad past fifty for the third time in a first-class career that has spanned less than a year.Before long, the pair also set a new fifth-wicket record for Somerset against Lancashire, albeit that only vanquished the 145 set by Rew and Lewis Goldsworthy at Southport last July. More significantly, of course, the balance of the contest and the shape of their side’s early season changed as well. It is easy during the first month or so of a campaign for a county’s season to suffer the same fate as SpaceX and experience a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly”. Had Abell’s team being bundled out below 200 on this wonderful Thursday afternoon when leaves seemed to appear on the trees almost as quickly as Somerset’s day improved, there was a danger that their early season would have been plagued by self-doubt and lack of confidence.Nor have two sessions changed everything. But when Rew cover-drove de Grandhomme to the Ondaatje Pavilion boundary four overs before the close to reach his second first-class century in 18 innings and his first on this ground, one was reminded of the afternoon nearly eight years ago when Abell had made his maiden century and Marcus Trescothick, who had earlier also made a ton, admitted that he felt like a warm-up act for his young colleague. Trescothick and Abell were interviewed that day. This evening, it is Abell and Rew who are facing some kindly faces and appreciative questions.Trescothick and Abell…Abell and Rew. “Pass it on,” says Hector in Alan Bennett’s play “That’s the lesson I want you to learn.”

India could bring in wristspinners against a right-hander heavy West Indies batting line-up

Deivarayan Muthu05-Feb-20222:31

Should India play both Kuldeep and Chahal? Who will be key batters for West Indies?

Big picture

After Ireland toppled West Indies 2-1 in the ODI series in the Caribbean, Kieron Pollard’s men rallied to beat England 3-2 in the T20I series that followed. This, despite the absence of Shimron Hetmyer, who has been left out on fitness grounds and Evin Lewis, who is yet to return to action post-Covid.Hetmyer and Lewis aren’t part of the white-ball squads for the India tour, too, so this is another chance for West Indies’ emerging players and comeback men to catch the attention of the national selectors and the IPL scouts, with the auction scheduled to be held on February 12 and 13.Among the emerging players are Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd, a Covid-19 recovered Fabian Allen, and Brandon King. After enjoying a breakout CPL 2021 with Guyana Amazon Warriors, Smith teed off in the T10 league and more recently for West Indies in white-ball cricket at home. Allen has shown sparks of brilliance in West Indies colours but is yet to fire like he has in the CPL.King, Smith’s team-mate at Amazon Warriors, is back in the ODI mix, as is Kemar Roach. Shepherd is another big-hitting allrounder that the CPL threw up, but he is still learning the ropes at the international level.Much like West Indies’ squad, India’s is in flux as well, with four players testing positive for Covid-19. KL Rahul will also miss the series opener because of family commitments; as a result, Mayank Agarwal, Ishan Kishan and Shahrukh Khan have been drafted into the main squad. India will be bolstered further by the return of a fit-again Rohit Sharma and Washington Sundar.Wristspinners Ravi Bishnoi, who is uncapped in international cricket, and Kuldeep Yadav have also been brought in to address the lack of wicket-taking threat in the middle overs, something that severely hamstrung India in South Africa. With no Chris Gayle or Lewis or Hetmyer, the wristspinners could play a substantial role against a potentially right-hander-laden West Indies line-up.There isn’t much to separate India and West Indies on the World Cup Super League points table as well. India have 49 points from nine games and West Indies have 50 points, although they’ve had the benefit of playing three more Super League ODIs.

Form guide

India LLLLW (Last five completed ODIs; most recent first)
West Indies LLWLW0:54

Aakash Chopra picks his India XI

In the spotlight

Ishan Kishan brings with him a no-holds-barred batting approach, a departure from India’s previous approach that prioritised safety. In the illness-enforced absence of Shikhar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad, Kishan will be looking to show his range, something that the IPL is familiar with, and stake his claim for a longer run in India’s white-ball sides.Akeal Hosein ditched wristspin, the more glamorous variety of spin, to become West Indies’ frontline fingerspinner who regularly fronts up to take the new ball. While he is largely seen as a restrictive bowler in T20s, he can give it a rip on helpful pitches. He can also tonk sixes lower down the order, as he showed in the second T20Is against England last month. He has also had a taste of the IPL, having been a net bowler with Kolkata Knight Riders last year.

Team news

With Agarwal still undergoing mandatory quarantine, India captain Rohit confirmed that Kishan would open the batting along with him on Sunday. On the bowling front, Kuldeep is likely to reunite with Yuzvendra Chahal. India might have to make a choice between Deepak Hooda and Washington for the allrounder role. On the eve of the match, Tamil Nadu batter Shahrukh was upgraded into the main squad after having been picked as a reserve player for the T20Is against West Indies.India: (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Suryakumar Yadav, 6 Deepak Hooda/Washington Sundar, 7 Deepak Chahar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Prasidh KrishnaKing will likely tussle with Nkrumah Bonner for a top-order slot. Darren Bravo provides a left-handed middle-order option, although he hasn’t played an ODI since July 2021. Roach is set to play his first ODI in more than two years.West Indies: (probable) 1 Shai Hope (wk), 2 Brandon King/Nkrumah Bonner, 3 Nicholas Pooran, 4 Shamarh Brooks, 5 Darren Bravo, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt), 7 Odean Smith/Romario Shepherd, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Hayden Walsh Jr.

Pitch and conditions

England and India played out a high-scoring T20I series the last time the Motera staged international cricket, around this time last year in 2021. The pitch might favour the batters once again although the bigger boundaries could challenge their power-hitting. Dew could be a factor later in the evening. The weather is expected to be fine for the duration of the game.

Stats and trivia

• Sunday’s ODI will be India’s 1000th. They will be the first side to reach the mark in the format.
• Yuzvendra Chahal needs one wicket to get to 100 strikes in ODI cricket. He will be the ninth Indian spinner to reach the milestone after Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Sachin Tendulkar, R Ashwin, Ravi Shastri, Yuvraj Singh and Kuldeep.
• West Indies have played 58 ODIs against India in India, losing 29 and winning 28.
• This will be the first ODI at Motera in more than seven years.

A bout of food poisoning had kept him out for the last couple of games

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2020Having made a “full recovery” from his stomach bug, Chris Gayle is likely to be available for the Kings XI Punjab’s next game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday, the franchise posted on their website.Gayle, who is yet to feature in IPL 2020, was unavailable for the Kings XI’s last couple of games due to a stomach infection. He was also temporarily admitted to the hospital but returned to training on Monday after his recovery.According to the Kings XI’s head coach Anil Kumble, Gayle was in line to play his first game of the season against the Sunrisers Hyderabad last week but the infection kept him out. He then missed the game against the Kolkata Knight Riders too for the same reason, which the Kings XI lost by two runs on the last ball in a dramatic turnaround. The Kings XI’s campaign is struggling to find steam at the moment – they have just one win from seven games and are at the bottom of the points table.Gayle, 41, was the second-highest run-getter for the Kings XI last season with 490 runs from 13 innings at a strike rate of 153.60.

Opener has overcome his post-viral fatigue issues but at present has nowhere to play ahead of the Ashes squad being picked on July 27

Alex Malcolm02-Jul-2019Australia opener Joe Burns is set to be available for Ashes selection, having been cleared to play again after recovering from post-viral fatigue disorder.Burns had been forced to go home from his stint with English county side Lancashire in May after he was was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue, stemming from a virus he suffered in October 2018.Post-viral fatigue is an umbrella term for serious fatigue symptoms that can afflict individuals following a viral infection. A number of cricketers and athletes have suffered from it, and it notably ended the career of former Australia under 19 captain and Western Australia batsman Rob Baker.Burns’ issues were not found to be as severe and after a prescribed rest period, Burns began training again on June 17. He took to Twitter on Monday to announce he has been cleared to play again.
The major issue for Burns is whether he will be able to play anywhere in the lead up to the Ashes. Despite scoring a career-best 180 in Australia’s last Test match against Sri Lanka back in February, Burns was not selected in the Australia A squad that is currently touring England.National chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns did explicitly state that players not selected in the Australia A squad, including – Burns, Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Bancroft – were all still firmly in Ashes contention as county form would be heavily considered. However, Burns was replaced as Lancashire’s overseas player by South Australia’s Jake Lehmann.Australia’s other incumbent Test opener, Marcus Harris, has traveled to England to join the Australia A four-day squad for the first of two four-day games against Sussex and the England Lions. He is the only specialist opener in the squad for those two games, the first of which starts on Sunday. There is a third four-day game between Australia and Australia A in Hampshire on July 23 that will feature Ashes contenders who are currently in the World Cup squad.There will need to be at least 22 players, possibly 24, to play in that game and the teams have not been named. The Ashes squad will be selected at the end of that game on July 27 with the first Test starting at Edgbaston just five days later.David Warner is set to return to the top of the order in the Test team following his productive return at the World Cup. Steve Smith is also a guaranteed starter barring injury, meaning at least two of the top six who played in Australia’s last Test are set to be squeezed out.

The defending champions failed in a chase of 168 and now need to win all their remaining six matches to stay in playoff contention

The Report by Vishal Dikshit01-May-2018Virat Kohli doesn’t hold his emotions back•BCCI

Umesh Yadav took two wickets off consecutive deliveries with the new ball, Ishan Kishan fell for a golden duck and Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Mumbai Indians by 46 runs. Two weeks later, Umesh was on a hat-trick with the new ball against Mumbai again, Kishan bagged another golden duck, his third in four innings, but this time Umesh’s opening burst also included Rohit Sharma’s first-ball duck and the Royal Challengers bowling line-up sustained the pressure throughout for once to defend 167 on their home ground and move up to fifth place after only their third win from eight matches.The defending champions, meanwhile, are back in seventh place and need to win all their remaining six matches lest they wish to rely on other teams to help them stay in playoff contention. Rohit opted to bowl and a combined bowling show from the spinners and Hardik Pandya in the death overs was restricting Royal Challengers to under 150 until Colin de Grandhomme’s 10-ball 23 lifted them in the last over. Eventually, the early loss of wickets hurt Mumbai this time and even though the Pandya brothers seemed up to the task of scoring 62 runs from the last five overs, some pin-point bowling with pace variations sealed it for the hosts.RCB and the death oversVirat Kohli had bowled Umesh and Yuzvendra Chahal by the 15th over yet again and the Pandya brothers had the cushion of Ben Cutting to follow in the chase. Among the quicks, only Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj had two overs left each so Kohli decided to give the 16th to de Grandhomme. He conceded 17, and Mumbai needed 45 from 24 only to see a different story unfold this time. Siraj and Southee bowled a stirring mix of length deliveries, pace variations and wide yorkers to prevent the Pandyas from hitting down the ground. Siraj conceded only one boundary in his last two overs, Southee allowed Mumbai five little singles in the 18th over and Siraj also had Krunal caught at point for 23 to give the visitors a stiff equation of 25 from six. Hardik then hit Southee’s offcutter to long-on and Cutting connected well with only two of the remaining five deliveries. Southee finished with 2 for 25 and a Man of the Match award.Even though their bowling contingent turned the story around, the death overs stung Royal Challengers’ batting line-up this time. They were 123 for 3 with Kohli on 29 and five overs to go, easily set for 175. However, Jasprit Bumrah had two overs left, and Hardik bowled offcutters and slower ones consistently to remove Mandeep Singh, Kohli and Washington Sundar in the 18th over for only two runs. Bumrah didn’t get all his yorkers right but the batsman couldn’t middle many either. Only one of his final 12 deliveries went to the boundary and there were five dots among them as well. So, Royal Challengers found themselves 143 for 7 with one over to go. Fortunately and decisively for them, de Grandhomme smacked three sixes off the last four balls, including a free hit, for a competitive total.The costly Mumbai oversBarring three expensive overs, Mumbai conceded only 101 runs in 17 overs on Tuesday night. Most of the Mumbai bowlers strangled the batsmen, not letting any of them, except de Grandhomme, finish with a strike rate of over 150. It was the remaining three overs that Royal Challengers cashed in on to hammer 66 runs.The first of those was the fourth over, by JP Duminy. Opener Manan Vohra smacked the part-time spinner for 20 runs off the first four balls with two sixes and as many fours in the 22-run over. Duminy was probably used in the Powerplay because of a left-handed opener – Quinton de Kock – but bowled only one ball to him out of 12. The second expensive over was Hardik’s after Brendon McCullum had scratched his way to nine off six balls. In the 10th over, he dispatched two full-tosses for consecutive sixes, the first of them a no-ball, and then struck the fourth legitimate delivery, a knuckleball, through the covers for four. Twenty off the over. It shot their run rate above eight an over but there was more to come, right at the end.Mitchell McClenaghan started the last over impressively with three singles before de Grandhomme launched an offcutter over midwicket, collected two down the ground, hit a six off a no-ball and ended the innings with a free hit he smoked over long-off. Royal Challengers had gone from 146 to 167 in only three legitimate deliveries.Mumbai’s spinners stifle RCB early onRohit surprisingly decided to open the bowling with Duminy in a spin-heavy first nine overs and the move worked brilliantly except in that fourth over. Duminy extracted sharp turn and bounce in the first over with five dot balls and almost had Vohra caught at midwicket for 6. McClenaghan used a mix of back-of-length and slower deliveries to concede only seven in his first two overs and had de Kock caught at midwicket for a 13-ball 7. Seeing the turn on offer, Rohit bowled Krunal and Mayank Markande from overs six to nine to see them beat the bat, bowl stifling lines and concede only 24 runs, including Vohra’s wicket for 45.Mumbai were similarly shackled in the middle overs but that was down to the early wickets and even though Hardik batted before his brother for a slightly brisk fifty, he and Duminy had to do a lot of consolidation after they were 47 for 4 in the eighth over. Umesh brought two in sharply to trap Suryakumar lbw for 9 and had Rohit inside edge one next ball to de Kock diving full-length behind the stumps. Kishan was bowled by Southee in the first over.