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IRE vs ZIM | Sikandar Raza, Blessing Muzarabani lead Zimbabwe to victory in first ODI

Zimbabwe registered only their second win in the ICC World Cup Super League 2020-22 when they defeated Ireland by 38 runs in the first match of the three-match series at Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast. 

All-rounder Sikandar Raza, who got into the team for the first time after missing the entire five-match T20I series proved to be a good asset with the bat while Sean Williams and Brendan Taylor, the other two senior members of the team also did well to merit their inclusion.

Batting first, Zimbabwe put up a competitive total of 266-7 courtesy of a fighting inning by skipper Craig Ervine (64 off 96) and flourishing innings by Skandar Raza (59* off 44) and Brendan Taylor (49 off 45). Late order hitting by Luke Jongwe played an important role as well. For Ireland, each of the six bowlers tried, picked a wicket each while Jongwe was run out. 

In its attempt to chase down the total, the Irish had a decent enough start with the openers putting up a 64 run stand for the first wicket. While Stirling got out eventually unable to score quickly which is his ideal way to play, skipper Balbirnie followed him to the dressing room soon as well. 

Harry Tector then combined with William Porterfield and the two added 71 runs for the third wicket as Porterfield reached his 19th ODI fifty. But once Porterfield was dismissed by Jongwe, it became very difficult for Ireland to get going as spinners Williams, Wesley Madhevere, Raza and Wellington Masakadza. 

However, it was Blessing Muzarabani who took advantage of that pressure created by spinners as he ran through the Irish middle order picking up four wickets in his 9.4 overs. In the end, even after Porterfoeld’s and Tector’s fifties, Ireland folded out for 228 and thus lost the game by 45 runs. 

Raza was adjudged Man of the Match for his batting. The two teams will now clash in the second ODI on September 10 at the same venue.

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5th Test Preview: Battle-hardened India chase legacy-defining series win over haphazard England

When the coin went up in the air for the first time at Trent Bridge early last month, it was the start of a “blockbuster” series as Indian captain Virat Kohli had described then. Now, after a period of over one month and four riveting Test matches, each and every phase of play has thrown fierce battles and mouthwatering competition between the players across both sides to justify the hype and expectations. While India made an impressive start in the first Test, Joe Root brought his best to the fore and thwarted an early advantage to the tourists. To overcome the Joe Root-led England batting, Virat Kohli’s highly-spirited side sucked the life out of the hosts at Lord’s to go 1-0 up in the series. There were obituaries written for the hosts in the aftermath of Lord’s loss and people expected Kohli-led India’s ship to sail comfortably through the Englihs summer. Both their critics and the Indian side faced a rough high tide soon after as James Anderson and Ollie Robinson blew them apart at Headingley. What was described as an “Indian juggernaut” after Lord’s became “here to go again” in terms of batting collapse for the Indian side and the fortunes of analysts writing off a side were returned to India after a humiliating defeat at Headingley. However, just as Root’s side came back strongly after Lord’s defeat to trounce India, Kohli’s men bounce back in as bullish a manner as possible to take a 2-1 lead at the Oval Test. It’s that topsy-turvy ride in the series that augurs fantastic five days for the fifth and final Test of the series due to be played at Old Trafford. If England’s defeat at Lord’s and India’s defeat at Headingley were of their own making, the last Test at the Oval was more a case of a stronger side defeating a mediocre team in the long haul where all aspects of their game were tested until wheels came off. India’s last win showcased the difference between the sides and established their supremacy in neutral conditions. It highlighted that the gulf between the sides can be narrowed only by bowling conditions heavily stacked against batsmen and in favour of swing and seam bowling. On what considered as “good” or “flat” pitches, England have always been found wanting and it was again on display at the Oval as they could not modify their game as per changing playing conditions while India had plans ready for multiple propositions. Kohli had issued a bullish statement in the wake of the horror show at Headingley that his team love being “written off” and that they have shown their strong mind and class to come back from such situations before. He and his team have lived up that promise by returning the favour of a humiliating loss at Headingley to the hosts and it’s the turn of England to come back with their riposte at Old Trafford. After all, the tourists have a first-mover’s advantage having taken a lead of 2-1, it’s the hosts England who have to hit the ground running if they want to avoid an embarrassing two consecutive series loss at home. England vs India: Match Details Match Number- 05 Date and Time: September 10-14, 2021, 3:30 pm IST, 10:30 Local, 10:00 GMT Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester Broadcast and Live Stream: SonyLIV, Sony Six Pitch and weather Joe Root has asked for “England condition” for the fifth and final Test of the series and it is understandable that he knows the limits of his side. England are not quite adept at batting for 150 odd overs on a dry pitch against disciplined bowling and also not have too many pace bowlers who could “take the pitch out of the equation” and hence the hosts will need conditions such as it was Headingley to stop India from winning the series. However, they would not be feeling confident of unleashing an absolute green seamer as it can also bing the fiery Indian pace attack well and truly in the game and hence Root wants just “England conditions” and not absolutely bowling-friendly conditions. England have also added Jack Leach to the squad which suggests that even the hosts are not ruling out a spin-friendly pitch at Old Trafford. The pitches at the venue in the recent past have aided spinners and if it holds true for the Test, India will be confident of returning with the Pataudi Trophy firmly in their grasps. The weather god is likely to intervene a lot during the course of the final Test in Manchester with chances of rain exceeding 10 per cent on all days of the game. The first day is likely to be affected the most by the rain as there is more than a 30 per cent chance of rain throughout the first day. Team News England England have confirmed the return of Jos Buttler into the playing XI for the final Test and hence there will be a shuffling of the batting lineup with only one slot remaining in the middle order for the duo of Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope. Pope returned to the team just in the last game and looked in excellent touch in the first innings while Bairstow has looked very assuring at the crease but doesn’t have any good score to show to his name. Root has not thrown any hint on who is the preferred option in the eyes of the team management, but dropping Pope will be an injustice for the Surrey lad who did the best from his side with the bat in the first innings. England have also added left-arm spinner Jack Leach, who had gone into oblivion following a stellar winter in India and Sri Lanka, to the squad for the final Test but Root has confirmed that he will come back into XI only in case the team will find conditions worthy of playing with two spinners. Moeen Ali, who suffered from his perennial problems at the Oval, remains as England first-choice spinner for the final Test. Moeen for a long time has been known as a bowler who produces magic deliveries and gets the best batsmen from the opposition out but in between those unplayable deliveries, he lacks control. He leaks too many runs for the liking of his captain and the trend has not stopped in the series as well with India milking him at more than four runs per over in the second innings at the Oval. The team management will be at loggerheads over the workload of the Anderson-Robinson who were made to toil in the last Test but Root does not have too many options to fall upon in the absence of Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad. However, Root has suggested that they will not risk playing with a bowler who is concerning about an injury and hence the outlook of the England pace attack will be interesting. Craig Overton was found out at the Oval and to add to the misery, he was also injured while batting in the last innings which would open a certain door of selection for Mark Wood. Probable XI Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (C), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (WK), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson India India too have too many selection conundrums albeit a majority of them are due to the availability of too many options. make. The biggest of them all will be the question of Ajinkya Rahane, who has looked like a fish out of water for a large part of the series. His numbers have dried up and so are the calls for his support from outside. Although Kohli has not given in too much for what he calls “outside noise” but Rahane’s position in the team is becoming untenable with each passing failure with the bat. If Kohli sticks to his style of giving a long rope to players he trusts, Rahane will be batting at number five at Old Trafford or Hanuma Vihari will get his first chance in the last Test of the series. Another big and continuous conundrum for them will be the selection or non-selection of Ravichandran Ashwin. He has been excluded from the playing XI throughout the series after Kohli ditched the two-spinner formula in the wake of loss in the WTC final against New Zealand and adopted a “template” of four pacers and one spinner in the form of Ravindra Jadeja. They have maintained the stance that the off-spinner will come in the picture only if the pitch will allow them to play two spinners and hence nothing could be said from the outset. India rested Mohammed Shami as he was recovering from a niggle but Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj continued to play at the Oval as well. The duo has played all the Tests of the series so far and they must be feeling having tired legs. Bumrah was also seen clutching his calf while bowling in the second innings at the Oval and hence Kohli will have to take a call whether they want to rest one or both of them from an all-important series decider at Old Trafford. Siraj can well be replaced by Mohammed Shami but India would be fretting over the injury scare to Bumrah, who has an equally important series to play for India in the coming months. Unlike Siraj or Shami, he forms the core of the Indian bowling attack that will play in the ICC World T20 later this year and the team management will be wary of bowling him to the ground some months before the marquee event. If the pitch at Old Trafford will be drier than the other pitches that have been used in the series so far, India might go with both Jadeja and Ashwin with Shardul being the third pacer in the team. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

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CPL 2021 | Tallawahs keep Semis hopes alive after beating table-toppers Patriots

It was a complete team effort by Jamaica Tallawahs which led to their comeback against table-toppers St Kitts and Nevis Patriots just a day after the thrashing they received at the hands of the Trinbago Knight Riders. The Tallawahs rose from that defeat and played it all out to win by 22 runs against the Patriots and thereby kept their Semi-Finals hopes alive and kicking. While it was Andre Russell with both bat and ball to drag Tallawahs to victory, other meaningful contributions came from skipper Rovaman Powell, Shamarh Brooks and pacer Migael Pretorious. The Tallawahs set up a target of 170 for the Patriots who were without their usual heroes in Dwayne Bravo Sherfane Rutherford for this game. The chase really couldn’t get going as the Patriots lost Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle inside the powerplay. These were the two men on whom the team was most dependent. After their departure, wicketkeepers Joshua da Silva and Devon Thomas tried to stitch a partnership and fuel the chase, but it was too much to ask from them as the partnership was nipped in the bud by a run out which led to da Silva’s dismissal wit the team score at 77 in the 13th over. With the required run rate increasing ever so fast, Dominic Drakes and Fabian Allen tried to keep up with it. But in the end, it became ever so high that the two batters crumbled under it and eventually the Patriots innings ended at 147-8. For Tallawahs, Pretorious picked three wickets while Veerasammy Permaul removed two batters. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss, Patriots skipper Gayle invited Tallawahs to bat first. After a cautious start by the openers Kennar Lewis and Kirk McKenzie, Powell and Brooks took control of the situation and guided the team past the 100 run barrier. Powell and Carlos Brathwaite then got out in quick succession, but Brooks continued with Russell who hit a quickfire 28 off 17 balls. In the end, the team ran out of gas and could only reach 169 even as they looked like crossing 180 easily. For the Patriots, Drakes, Fawad Ahmed and Jon-Russ Luke Jaggesar took two wickets each. After five wins in a row, this is now the third straight defeat for the Patriots who still occupy the top position on the table.

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CPL 2021 | Gudakesh Motie, Odeon Smith bowl Warriors to victory over St Lucia Kings

With scintillating spin bowling by left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie and equally brilliant death bowling by medium pacer Odean Smith, Guyana Amazon Warriors overcame a large number of dropped catches in the field to topple second-placed St Lucia Kings by 17 runs. With this win, they have now gathered eight points from eight games and are now knocking on the doors of a semi-final berth in the Caribbean Premier League 2021. Chasing a target of 152 set up by the Warriors, the Kings were in for a shock as Motie chipped away with wickets by being as miser as he could with runs. He got the crucial men in skipper Faf du Plessis and experienced Samit Patel out and conceded only 12 runs from his four overs, bowling a staggering 17 dot balls in the process. Imran Tahir bowled in tandem with Motie even as Roston Chase and Tim David formed what could have transpired to be a match-changing partnership thanks to the dropped catches in the field. However, the Warriors bowlers kept the run rate in check and as a result, a false shot was induced by Naveen-Ul-Haq to send Chase packing in the 18th over. Having added 75 runs with Chase and with Kings still requiring 34 off 16 balls to win, the onus was on Singaporean import David to see the Kings home. Smith though had other ideas in mind as after a very good 18th over by Naveen, he bowled a magnificent 19th over getting rid of Keemo Paul and Jeavor Royal, conceding only three runs in the process. With 29 needed from the last over and Naveen bowling it, hopes were really low for a Kings’ victory and they lowered more as the team could gather only 10 runs from the first four balls, meaning that they could not get 19 from the last two and eventually lost the game 17 runs. Earlier in the day, courtesy of Brandon King’s 77 and some late hitting by skipper Nicholas Pooran and Smith, the Warriors managed to reach 151 in their allotted 20 overs. Royal and Wahab Riaz picked two wickets each for the Kings.