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Morne Morkel has waited 12 years for a day like this, a day when he could stand out and revel in the highest high of his career

Firdose Moonda in Cape Town25-Mar-2018Morne Morkel has waited 12 years for a day like this, a day when he could stand out and revel in the highest high of his career.”Today was very, very special. I tried to enjoy it as much as possible. The crowd is always amazing here at Newlands. For me, it is the best venue to play Test cricket. Today is the highlight of my life. If I get asked the question again, what is your most memorable or special moment, the answer will definitely be today,” a beaming, emotional Morkel said afterwards.His first nine-for has come in bittersweet circumstances, not only because it could be his last with his retirement now only a week away. It also came on a day when what was happening off the field cast a Table Mountain-sized shadow over what was happening on it, when the opposition were so suitably distracted that they might as well have forfeited their second innings after the first wicket fell and the crowd was more concerned with booing the Australians than celebrating the South Africans.That started to change when the Newlands faithful realised a result could come on Sunday and they could be witness to it, when Steven Smith, public enemy No.1 after the ball-tampering transgression, threw his hands at the third ball of Morkel’s second spell and steered a catch to Dean Elgar at gully. The jeers – and there were jeers aplenty for the deposed Australian captain – turned to cheers. Morkel pulled on Australia’s loosest thread and then it all unraveled.In 32 balls, Morkel took 5 for 14 and put South Africa in a position from which they cannot lose the series. At one stage he was on a hat-trick, after two fierce, fast deliveries to dismiss Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins and he was the one to end the innings. As he did, Morkel provided one of his most animated celebrations with enthusiastic waving to a crowd he will not see again. He even shed a tear and then quickly pulled himself so he could soak up the moment.”I am just very happy sitting here right now. Everything happened so quickly out there,” he said. “At one stage I thought it was going to be a grind. Keshav got the ball rolling and from there, there was just a buzz in the field, an edge in the field. I’m just happy we could wrap it up.”Morkel has never been one to take the credit, most of the time because it hasn’t been his to take. He spent a career in the shadows of Dale Steyn early on, Vernon Philander through the middle and Kagiso Rabada at the end. He has spent his career being under-rated and maybe even a little insecure because if a conversation had to be had about who needed to be dropped, it often involved him.Now, as it all comes to an end, Morkel is finally getting some recognition and it has come in the finest fashion, from a captain who has known him throughout his career.”Morne has almost been, for the first six, seven or eight years of his career, the guy that has gone unnoticed. He was the work horse. He got his two or three-fors and I think only captains really appreciate the work Morne does,” Faf du Plessis said. “He is not the guy that gets five-fors. Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada of late, they get the five-fors on regular occasions. Morne does the donkey work. He works hard. He runs in all day. He never says, ‘I have bowled enough.’ You tell him it is enough and then still he wants to bowl more and more. That’s a captain’s dream. As a performer, he is going to be missed.”More so, now that he has found such fine form and that there is a crop of youngsters to nurture. “He has been a mother figure in the team, with a big heart. We are going to miss that,” du Plessis said. “Obviously, his bowling we are going to miss. It is size 13 boots that need to be filled. It’s big shoes. We understand his decision. It’s a decision for his future and his family. He knows that the team backs him up 100%. It’s great to see the fans are so behind him. And I reckon he is going to miss days like these a lot.”Is he? Yes, but it will not cause him to reconsider.”It is tough. Especially leaving a quality group of men in the change room. It is going to be sad but I suppose all good things come to an end,” Morkel said.Even one as good as this.

M Vijay, who missed the Bengaluru Test with a shoulder injury, kept his place in a 15-man squad chosen for the final two matches against Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2017M Vijay, the India opener, has kept his place in the squad for the final two Tests against Australia. He had picked up an injury to his left shoulder while fielding in Pune and had to miss the Bengaluru Test, but with a week left until the start of the next one in Ranchi, he appears to have time to recover and become the 29th Indian to 50 Test caps.

India squad

Virat Kohli (capt), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav
Out: Hardik Pandya

Allrounder Hardik Pandya, who has shoulder troubles of his own, was the only player to be cut from the 16-man squad chosen at the start of the tour.Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami, who have recovered from protracted thigh and knee problems respectively, have played List A cricket over the past week but they are yet to prove their fitness over the course of a first-class match; that could perhaps be the reason they have not been picked here.Head coach Anil Kumble had stressed on a protocol by which first-choice picks could walk back into the XI after injury provided they play the same format in domestic cricket and prove their fitness. Rohit made 4 and 16 for Mumbai in one-day cricket while Shami picked up 0 for 36 for Bengal and practiced with the Indian team at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, though he mostly bowled off a short run-up.India retained Abhinav Mukund as the third opener despite his underwhelming returns in the second Test; he made 0 and 16 in his first international game in over five years. The extra opener is especially needed given the recent niggles for their top-order batsmen – apart from Vijay’s injury, Rahul’s left shoulder caused him some concern in Pune and Cheteshwar Pujara said he had to fight a sore neck during his match-winning 92 in Bengaluru.India’s bowling line-up was unchanged. Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuneshwar Kumar were the seamers. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, both No. 1 on the ICC rankings for Test bowlers, led the spin department which also includes offspinner Jayant Yadav and left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav.The series is square at 1-1 and is set to resume on March 16 with the first Test ever to be played in Ranchi. Then Dharamsala makes its debut on March 25.

Mitchell McClenaghan has suffered a hairline fracture above his left eye, during the first ODI against Pakistan. He picked up the injury when a bouncer burst through the gap in his helmet

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Jan-2016New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan has suffered a hairline fracture just above his left eye, during the first ODI against Pakistan in Wellington. He picked up the injury when a bouncer burst through the gap in his helmet in the final over of New Zealand’s innings on Monday. It rules him out of the second ODI in Napier, and puts him in doubt for the final match on Sunday, as he is scheduled to undergo minor cosmetic surgery on Friday in Auckland.McClenaghan was batting on 31 from 17 deliveries when the penultimate ball of the innings – from Anwar Ali – squeezed between the peak of his helmet, and its grille to strike him flush on the left eye. Slow-motion replays showed the ball had hit him with considerable force. McClenaghan immediately fell to the ground as the umpires, the Pakistan players and non-striker Matt Henry moved towards him. He eventually rose to his feet to cheers from the crowd, after attention from the team physio. The area around his eye was swollen as he walked off the field.He did not bowl in Pakistan’s innings, spending most of it in hospital instead. He received stitches on his left eyebrow, but was well enough to tweet an update on his condition and congratulations to his team-mates after the victory. “Thanks for all the concerns. Everything is as good as it can be just a few broken bones. Great win for the boys!” he tweeted.McClenaghan is the fourth New Zealand player to be unavailable for Thursday’s game, with Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee also out through injury.

Fluent knocks from Usman Khawaja and Phillip Hughes and a sparkling half-century from Brad Haddin led the Australians to a six-wicket win over Somerset

Daniel Brettig in Taunton29-Jun-2013
ScorecardPhillip Hughes came in at No.3 and collected another valuable half-century to press his case for Ashes selection•Getty Images

Usman Khawaja, Phillip Hughes and Ed Cowan were all useful if not quite compelling on a day of sunshine and blue skies at Taunton as they duelled for places in the Australian batting order for the first Ashes Test. Each played fluently until the moment of his dismissal, but none turned their start into the sort of tally captain Michael Clarke and coach Darren Lehmann so desired from their charges.Still, a win is a win and as the first such result in a first-class match by an Australian team overseas since the third Test in Dominica in April 2012, it should not be sniffed at. Brad Haddin, the vice-captain, completed formalities with a second six in an innings that underlined how the tourists’ goal of an outright result has never been in question.Haddin’s was in fact the most arresting batting of all the Australians. He walked out with a potentially tense 56 runs still to get and proceeded to clobber 52 of them himself. Following on from fluent runs for Australia A, Haddin looks more than capable of playing in the top six if required.The Australians made one concession for preparatory needs by keeping Shane Watson from batting in the second innings, even though four wickets fell. He is completely certain of his place, but others less so. Khawaja and Hughes gained most from the final day’s batting, on a surface that had finally begun to wear. Though he did not impress in the first innings, Khawaja was composed and unhurried while compiling 73 runs, including 10 boundaries. Hughes played his shots with increasing levels of self-assurance, benefiting from the gains of day two.However Cowan trudged grimly from the wicket after falling short of a major score, despite looking untroubled until the moment of his dismissal, which for the second time in the match went the way of the tall seamer Gemaal Hussain. It remains to be seen whether he will get another chance to push for his retention in the Test team against Worcestershire next week.Sun blazed over the County Ground as Cowan and Khawaja resumed play in the morning. Runs were soon being collected with efficiency and no great fuss, any edges snuck through the gap between slips and gully running along the ground. Cowan drove attractively through cover and also punched through point off the back foot, while Khawaja rotated the strike more effectively than he has done so at times in the past.So comfortable did both batsmen look that the fall of a wicket was unexpected. Cowan, on 46, flailed at Hussain in search of the boundary to reach his half-century and managed only to edge behind. The dismissal continued a worrying pattern: not since the first Test of last summer against South Africa in Brisbane has Cowan made a first-class century, despite consistently making starts. Australia may be able to afford this kind of recurring issue with one of their openers, but having guaranteed a berth to the hundred-shy Watson they may be hesitant about including another.Hughes walked out at No. 3 as the tourists sought to bolster his confidence further, and it was evident in a rollicking start to his innings including one big six heaved over midwicket from the bowling of George Dockrell. This was the sort of shot Hughes looked afraid to play in India, and he balanced his aggression with plenty of singles while at the other end Khawaja raised his fifty.Lunch came and went, and just when Khawaja appeared to be cantering towards a century, the rough Dockrell had been floating his left-arm spin towards caused him to play for too much spin and snick a catch to slip. Hughes and Clarke prospered for a time, before the former slogged at Dockrell and was bowled. Clarke had played his second pleasing cameo of the match but authored a similarly inattentive stroke three runs later, dancing down the wicket and playing around a ball that did not turn.But Haddin was in a joyful hurry, and he allowed the tour bus a chance to be revved up for Worcester well ahead of the scheduled close. It gathered valuable momentum at Taunton, even if Cowan, Hughes and Khawaja might have preferred more runs to take with them.

Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, admitted that Kevin Pietersen’s retirement from international limited-overs cricket has opened up a big hole

Nagraj Gollapudi at Edgbaston07-Jun-2012Graham Gooch, England’s batting coach, admitted that Kevin Pietersen’s retirement from international limited-overs cricket has opened up a big hole at the top of the batting order, but insisted it is not so huge that it cannot be filled. Gooch, England’s leading run-scorer in Test cricket, called Pietersen a “box-office player” but did not criticise the decision to step down from ODIs which has also led to the end of his international Twenty20 career.”Kevin is a superb player for England in all forms of the game. He is a great entertainer,” Gooch said. “He is a box-office player that excites the cricketing public not only in this country, but around the world. So before you ask me, is he going to be missed? Sure he is going to be missed. Any player who is capable of winning a match is going to be missed by a team. But he has to make his own decisions. He is the only one who would be able to give true insight into why he decided to retire from ODI cricket.”In a decision that caught everyone by surprise, Pietersen announced on May 31 that he was stepping away from ODI cricket (and, also, effectively Twenty20 as it is part of the ECB contract to be available for both formats) citing “the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body,” as one of the main reasons. Gooch did not want to be drawn into the issue of the schedules, which has become a talking point in the recent years with players deciding to give up one form of the game in order to extend their tenures in another version.What Gooch, though, was certain about was England needed to move forward and there were good batsmen ready to fill in the vacancy left behind by Pietersen. “Life moves on, one door closes and another one opens. So you got to look at from the team point of view as an opportunity for someone else to make his mark, to represent his country, to win games for his country,” he said. “I look it as an opportunity for another young player to grab that chance, to take that chance and achieve the highest honour of representing his country. I don’t look back, I look forward.”Gooch, himself an opening batsman, was a supporter of Pietersen opening in the one-day game which began at last year’s World Cup before resuming against Pakistan in the UAE where he struck back-to-back hundreds in, what ended up becoming, his final two ODIs. “I was always in favour of Kevin Pietersen opening the batting because I’m always in favour putting your best players in one-day and Twenty20 cricket top of the order; give them all the overs to make an impact,” he said.The England selectors will meet over the next few days to select the ODI squad to face West Indies and Gooch believes there are plenty of options on hand to replace Pietersen, picking out the likes of Craig Kieswetter, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler. “The selectors will be meeting probably in the next day or so and formulating who they think is the best option upfront. We have got some exciting young players around: Kieswetter, Bairstow, Buttler are the guys who have been in and around the Lions and the one-day team. They are not new names, but are the guys I see taking England cricket forward over the next few years.”Kieswetter, who started his England career as an opener, was part of the last ODI series England played, in the UAE, but came in as a middle-order batsman after Pietersen’s move to open. Buttler, a No.6 at Somerset, has played a solitary ODI (against Pakistan in UAE), but is known in the county arena for his innovative batting methods in Twenty20 cricket.Bairstow, who has six ODI caps, made his Test debut against West Indies at Lord’s but his fraught technique against the short delivery raised eyebrows about whether he was the right candidate to come in at No.6 in Tests. Gooch, one of the best players of fast bowling in the 1980s and 90s, said that it was too early to draw conclusions about Bairstow’s technique.”You don’t judge a player on just a few good balls,” he said. “I don’t think there is any player that has ever played Test cricket hasn’t punched one away in front of his face at some stage. Having been there myself, it is not a nice experience. You have to cope with that sort of bowling. I don’t think you make judgements on just a short passage of play.”Gooch did not entirely agree with the theory that Bairstow had not faced the likes of Roach in county cricket but highlighted the pressurised surrounds of the international game as a key difference. “One thing that is not there in county cricket you don’t get the tension you get in Test cricket, the feeling that you have to succeed because everyone is watching you and you are playing at the highest level. So the pressure is that much more at the highest level. That is something every top player, every top sportsman has to cope with: performing under pressure.”

The Sri Lankan sports minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, has named a three-member panel to look into Upul Tharanga’s failed doping test

ESPNcricinfo staff30-May-2011The Sri Lankan sports minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, has named a three-member panel to look into Upul Tharanga’s failed doping test.”The minister appointed the ministry secretary Udaya Seneviratne, Dr. Geethanjana Mendis and Dr. Maiya Gunasekera to investigate,” Harsha Abeykoon, the sports ministry media spokesman, said. “They will be recording a statement from Tharanga,” .Tharanga is also set to face an ICC inquiry, after testing positive during the 2011 World Cup for the banned substance prednisolone – a drug for asthma, a condition from which he is said to suffer.According to the ICC’s anti-doping code, “It is each player’s personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substance enters his/her body. A player is responsible for any prohibited substance found to be present in his or her sample. Accordingly, it is not necessary that intent, fault, negligence or knowing use on the player’s part be demonstrated in order to establish an anti-doping violation under Article 2.1; nor is the player’s lack of intent, fault, negligence or knowledge a defence to a charge that an anti-doping rule violation has been committed under Article 2.1.”However, if a player needs to take a drug that is on the World Anti-Doping Authority’s (WADA’s) banned list in order to treat an illness, he is required to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). The Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee (TUEC) evaluates all applications for TUEs received by ICC.Under the dope-testing process, if a player’s A sample is found to contain a banned substance, he will have the option of asking for his B sample to be tested as well. If his B sample is also found to be positive, then the player could face a provisional suspension until the ICC carries out its inquiry; if the B sample is negative, the investigation is discontinued. It is uncertain how far into the process the ICC is with regard to the Sri Lanka cricketer.

Nottinghamshire tightened their grip at the top of the Friends Provident t20 North Group with their ninth win in 12 games, beating Leicestershire by seven wickets in a high-scoring match at Grace Road

04-Jul-2010

ScorecardNottinghamshire tightened their grip at the top of the Friends Provident t20 North Group with their ninth win in 12 games, beating Leicestershire by seven wickets in a high-scoring match at Grace Road. The Outlaws chased down a target of 183 with nine balls to spare as Ali Brown and Matthew Wood led the victory charge with quickfire half-centuries.It was the Foxes’ fifth home defeat in a row despite a brilliant century from Australian Brad Hodge that steered them to a competitive total of 182 for 3. But with Brown hammering 55 off 34 balls and Wood hitting 61 off 37 balls the Outlaws made light work of the runs chase on an easy paced pitch.The innings of the match however came from Hodge who scored his first Twenty20 century for the Foxes off 65 balls with seven fours and four sixes before being run out for 103. The Australian, who played for the Foxes in 2003 and 2004 and has rejoined them this season for the t20 competition, had a previous best score of 97 that he made in his first game seven years ago.Hodge and James Taylor shared a third wicket partnership of 121 in 12 overs to gain the initiative after the Outlaws had the Foxes at 44 for 2 in the seventh over. Both batsmen produced some dazzling stroke play and brutal hitting as the Foxes scored 116 runs off the last 10 overs with 70 runs coming off the final five.Hodge, after reaching his 50 off 40 balls with four fours and a six, stepped up the pace with a blistering second half century as Taylor joined in the big hitting, contributing an unbeaten 56 off 38 balls. It needed a magnificent throw from Scott Elstone to run out Hodge but Leicestershire’s score looked good enough to set Notts a stern challenge.But the Foxes’ bowling never matched the quality of their batting and the Outlaws paced the run chase perfectly. Openers Alexander Hales and Brown scored 47 in the first five overs and then Wood joined Brown in a stand of 74 off seven overs that took the game away from the home side.Brown blazed 50 off 32 balls including three sixes and two other boundaries and Wood’s 50 came off just 29 balls. Even when Brown fell to a catch at cover off the bowling of Nathan Buck the Foxes were unable to stem the flow of runs and, after Wood’s departure for 61, Samit Patel and Steven Mullaney saw the Outlaws safely through to victory with nine balls to spare.

India vice-captain looking forward to forging opening partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jul-20241:05

Gill: We’re the world champions and we have to play like that

Shubman Gill, India’s vice-captain in ODIs and T20Is, has said he aims to improve his performance in the shortest format, as the team begins to build towards defending their T20 World Cup title in 2026.”My performance in T20Is before the World Cup this year wasn’t how I had expected it to be,” Gill said ahead of the series opener against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. “Hopefully, going forward, in the upcoming cycle – I think we play 30-40 T20Is [before the next T20 World Cup] – I can improve my performance when it comes to batting, and also [we can improve] as a team.”Gill was a reserve player and not part of the squad that just won the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies, where India opened with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. With both senior batters now retired from T20Is, Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was the back-up opener at the World Cup, are now first choice for India at the top of the order”We really enjoy batting with each other. Especially the kind of shots we play, we kind of complement each other,” Gill said of his partnership with Jaiswal. “Being a right-left combination, we have had good partnerships in whatever T20Is we have played before; two partnerships have been 150-plus [too]. So we have a great understanding and communication between us, and I have fun batting with him.”Related

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Gill and Jaiswal strung a couple of big partnerships in the T20Is in Zimbabwe after the T20 World Cup 2024 ended. Gill, who was India’s stand-in captain that series, top-scored with 170 runs at a strike rate of 125.92 in five innings. He was then appointed vice-captain for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka, selected ahead of other opening contenders like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma, who had scored a hundred in Zimbabwe.The series in Sri Lanka is also Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment as India coach after he succeeded Rahul Dravid, whose coaching tenure ended after the T20 World Cup triumph.”We have had just two net sessions together, and this is the first time I am working with him,” Gill said about Gambhir the coach. “But whatever he has told me during these two sessions, his intent and communication have been very clear – he knows what he wants from which player, and what he thinks will work for each player.”India play three T20Is against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on July 27, 28 and 30, followed by three ODIs in Colombo on August 2, 4 and 7.

Rossington’s 69 in vain as Gladiators smash 60 runs in 3.5 overs to seal a win and keep their chances alive

Danyal Rasool06-Mar-2023For the second time this season, Karachi Kings were on the cusp of victory against Quetta Gladiators, only to watch as Martin Guptill wrenched it violently out of their hands. On February 18, it was a century in the first innings. Today, an unbeaten 56-ball 86 saw Guptill shepherd his side as wickets fell at the other end before cranking through the gears in the final four overs to all but eliminate Kings while keeping the Gladiators’ faint hopes of making it to the playoffs alive.For the first 15 overs of the chase, it was painfully evident why Gladiators find themselves at the wrong end of the points table. There was little by way of intent of quality chasing a below par total against an underwhelming Karachi bowling attack. Mohammad Nawaz, promoted to No. 3 after Omaid Yousaf fell early, only managed a scratchy 15 before Mohammad Musa dismissed him. Iftikhar Ahmed continued to struggle with form, trapped in front by Tabraiz Shamsi; the review had a smaller chance of success than a lottery ticket. Shamsi followed it up by dismissing Najibullah Zadran while James Fuller sent back Umar Akmal cheaply, reducing Quetta to 63 for 5 inside ten overs.Guptill was around at the other end, but there was little to serve as a harbinger of what would follow in the final five overs. Aside from that hundred against Karachi, runs at the PSL haven’t really come for him, a continuation of a trend that has seen him lose form over the last year or so. He had shuffled along to 41 off 40, but the moment he walloped Mohammad Amir for a six in the 16th over, things appeared to fall into place.But the coup de grace was the 17th over, where a hapless Fuller was brutalised for 24 runs in an over, two sixes and three fours changing the course of the game. Musa copped plenty of punishment in the over that followed with another six and four, and Amir leaked 11 in his over to leave eight off the 20th.Sarfaraz Ahmed, who had watched passively from the other end, was run out in a mix-up, but by now, it was too late for Kings. Dwaine Pretorius came in and slapped two boundaries in three balls to seal the win, ensuring Gladiators continue to have hopes of an unlikely final four berth.Earlier, Gladiators had begun well as Naseem Shah removed Kings’ platinum pick Matthew Wade off the first ball. Much of the top order failed to have much of an impact, with Tayyab Tahir and Qasim Akram falling to Aimal Khan, before a sluggish innings from Shoaib Malik ground any Kings momentum to a halt. Any momentum that existed was thanks largely to a lone hand from Adam Rossington, whose 69 formed the spine of the innings, enabling his side to set up for a big finish at the death. That finish was provided by Imad Wasim and Amir Yamin who scored 51 in the final five to give their side a total they could look to defend.For three-quarters of the chase, they were having no problems defending it. But Guptill was a sleeping dragon at that stage, and when he awoke, the Kings could only watch as a wretched PSL campaign went up in smoke.

Nazmul Islam impresses with maiden four-for as Sylhet record first win

Mohammad Isam25-Jan-2022Sylhet Sunrisers 100 (Mahmudullah 33, Nazmul 4-18) beat Minister Group Dhaka 101 for 3 (Anamul 45, Mashrafe 2-21) by seven wicketsHow the match played out
Sylhet Sunrisers opened their account in BPL 2022 with a seven-wicket win over Minister Group Dhaka. It was a clinical win, too. They skittled Dhaka for 100 in 18.4 overs and then knocked off the runs with three overs to spare.Left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam took his maiden four-for in T20s to hasten the collapse. However, two of his four scalps were aided by poor lbw calls.Mohammad Naim was given out despite getting a glove while attempting a reverse sweep, while Andre Russell was sent back despite getting an inside edge onto his front pad. Tamim Iqbal, too, seemed unsatisfied with his lbw decision; the ball having appeared to have struck him even though he was well forward.Dhaka went up in a protest as Mahmudullah was seen talking to the on-field umpires, even as some of their other players engaged with the fourth umpire. The absence of DRS suddenly became a massive talking point.Sylhet made light work of the chase, though, with Anamul Haque hitting 45. He fell with two to win, before Ravi Bopara hit the winning runs.Big hit
It was Sylhet’s bowling that put Dhaka on the back foot. Sohag Gazi and captain Mosaddek Hossain reduced them to 17 for three in the sixth over. Gazi finished early, taking 2 for 17 off his four overs.Nazmul continued the good work by bowling stump-to-stump. He removed Naim and Russell in the 13th over. His third scalp was that of Mahmudullah caught at short fine-leg, before trapping Shuvagata Hom lbw for 21.The spinners dried up the boundaries, as Dhaka managed their first six only in the 16th over. Taskin Ahmed then rounded off the innings with three late strikes, finishing with 3 for 22 from his 2.4 overs.Big miss
Dhaka’s top four had another poor outing, of particular concern being Naim and Jahurul Islam, who are yet to fire.