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Joe Root Falls On 99 Shares A Sensational Stand With Yorkshire Skipper

Joe Root falls on 99, shares a sensational stand with Yorkshire skipper

England Test skipper Joe Root forged a sensational partnership with Yorkshire skipper Steven Patterson as Yorkshire finished Day 3 of their County Championship match against Glamorgan well on top. Root played a sensational hand and fell just a solitary run short of a well-deserved century.

It was on the back of some superb batting by Root and Patterson which took Yorkshire past Glamorgan’s first innings total and eventually went onto take a crucial 79 runs lead. After Glamorgan danced to the tunes of the Yorkshire bowlers, it was time for the Glamorgan bowlers to give it back.

Michael Nesser bowled a fiery spell bagging a fifer and some good bowling from the other pacers were instrumental in reducing Yorkshire to 116/8. Having come into the crease at 6/2 and see wickets fall around him, Joe Root held his nerves and looked the best batsmen from either side. His decisive strokeplay and feet movement against the moving ball was quite fascinating to see.

He drove through the up, adjusted to the lengths of the ball perfectly and ended up playing some delightful shots and helped Yorkshire claw their way back into the match and rest back the initiative.

A brilliant 79 runs partnership with skipper Steven Patterson turned the match on it’s head. Patterson provided the much-needed support to Root and went onto score a classy unbeaten 47 taking Yorkshire to a sizeable lead. Root fell agonisingly close of the century mark getting castled by Daniel Douthwaite.

With a substantial lead given the favourable conditions for bowlers, Yorkshire bowling led by Ben Coad and Jordan Thompson struck early to push Glamorgan into the back foot right away. They bowled brilliantly and reduced them to 44/3 which included the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne. It was David Llyod and Kiran Carlson who took Glamorgan to safety with a good partnership.

While Llyod took his time to get going, Carlson threw a counter-punch on the Yorkshire bowlers racing his way to a breezy knock of 44 of just 42 deliveries which included seven fours. They eventually ended the day’s play on 105/3, with a lead of 29 runs.

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Indian players failed to handle fame and money: Purnima Rau on rift in women's cricket

Former India women’s head coach and an established international cricketer during her heydays, Purnima Rau lambasted the current crop of players in the Indian team suggesting that success and money tend to get the better of them. She felt that while the triumphant Indian team from the 2015-16 T20 series in Australia was a happy and innocent bunch, things started to take a U-turn when they were offered huge sums of money and quite a few got the opportunity to ply their trades in Women’s Big Bash League. “When we won the T20 series for the first time in Australia in 2015-16, I remember the team to be a very innocent, happy, hungry bunch. It was nice to see them in the World Cup final in a matter of months,” Rau was quoted as saying during an exclusive interview with News 18. “But, after tasting success, the contract system, social media becoming powerful, Big Bash League, media attention, money, captaincy issues, everything started snowballing into a big issue between them. There is no camaraderie, no bonding between the players. Suddenly everything could change with the whiff of money. They could not handle success and money,” she further added. The context of having no team bonding and camaraderie has been quite prevalent in the Indian women’s cricket set-up. It was reported that there was unrest in the team following Mithali Raj’s omission for the playing XI in the 2017 World T20 semi-final. Ramesh Powar was sacked as the head coach but not before both Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana wrote a letter to BCCI insisting to keep Powar as the coach which was against the views of Mithali Raj. However in response to her equation with Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet had vouched that she doesnt have a problem with the former skipper. “I don’t think there has been any problem between me and Mithali. I can speak for myself. You have to speak to her and ask if she has a problem with me. I have always respected her as a senior. We are mature enough to handle the situation. We will have to play as a unit to take the team forward. We are more team players than individuals. If you think about the team cause, you will put your head down and work towards that. I have met her and spoken to her after all these events and we seem to have moved on,” Harmanpreet was quoted as saying by The Mumbai Mirror. Without mentioning any name, Rau said that this is nothing new among former players. When power comes in, everything else takes a backseat and in return, it affects women’s cricket. She urged the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to come forward and solve these issues.

England coach Chris Silverwood to take a break after NZ Tests

England head coach Chris Silverwood will go on a break after the team’s two-match Test series against New Zealand at home. The responsibilities would be taken up by his assistants for the limited overs series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan on the home soil. “I’ll be passing the reins on for the ODI series. It’s not fair on the players if I am operating at less than 100% and it is not fair on myself either,” Silverwood was quoted as saying by the British media. “Thorpey will do one and Colly will do the other and I’ll use it as my break to refresh and get ready for what is ahead of us,” he added. England will begin the Test series against Blackcaps on June 2 which will be followed by 12 white-ball internationals at home. They will first host Sri Lanka with the T20I series beginning on June 23 and would be followed by as many ODIs. The Pakistan team will tour England for a three-match ODI and three-match T20I series. After completing the home fixtures which includes seven Tests and 12 limited-overs games, England will tour Pakistan and Bangladesh ahead of the World T20 and will then travel to Australia for the Ashes series. “I’m not going to deny it’s not easy for me,” Silverwood said. “Obviously I am wholly on board with what we are doing. I am very embedded in it now. I do find it hard to switch off but I’ll do my best,” Silverwood further added. England would be naming the squad for the Test series against the Kiwis next week.

Simon Harmer picks nine to rattle Derbyshire

Essex bowler Simon Harmer rattled Derbyshire during the County Championship match in Chelmsford after he bagged career best figures of 9/80 for the side. In reply to Essex’s 412/3 (D), Derbyshire were bundled out for 146 to hand them a lead of 266 runs in the first innings before the end of the second session on Day 3. Harmer first trapped opener Luis Reece in front of the stumps for two while Daniel Lawrence who was the only other bowler to get a wicket removed the other opener Billy Godleman six runs later for 9. Derbyshire were 27/3 when Brooke Guest was joined by Alex Hughes in the middle. The two batsmen put on a partnership of 44 runs for the fourth wicket before Hughes departed for 22. The Wayne Madsen-led side didn’t really get any resistance after Hughes’ dismissal and lost wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 127/7 before eventually getting bowled out. Guest top-scored for Derbyshire with 49 while Hughes and skipper Madsen were the only other two batsmen to get to the double-figure mark during the course of the innings. Essex had enforced a follow-on. Earlier, Essex had rode on some brilliant batting from their top four and posted a mammoth total on the board. While openers Nick Browne and Alastair Cook notched up individual fifties, captain Tom Westley and Daniel Lawrence went on to score individual tons. Lawrence top-scored with an unbeaten 152 for the side.

Put them in their place - Former coach Purnima Rau fumes over power hungry cricketers

Former Indian women cricketer and coach of the national team, Purnima Rau has lambasted the culture of the women’s cricket team. Calling it a rot, Rau in a fiery interview to news18 has suggested that every single person who is hungry after power has to be thrown out for the system to heal. “Former players have been doing it for ages. When you get a little bit of power, everything else goes out of the window. It is infectious,” said Rau. Alleging that coaches are easy targets in the current system, Rau argued that the culture of coaching sacking is being encouraged by people inside the administration. “Coaches are taken for granted. There seems to be no respect for us. It is a rot and everybody is responsible. The players, administrators, support staff, everyone. Now it has come to a stage where it is affecting the game.” Stating that the people with vested interest need to be weeded out of the system, Rau urged that someone in the position of power has to be proactive about rebuilding the entire system. “Put the players in their places, put the former cricketers in their places. Ask them to work for a few months without being paid. Let them identify amongst these people who are genuine without any vested interests,” he added. It must be noted that Purnima Rau was the last woman head coach of the national team. She was ousted just a couple of months before the 2017 World Cup. Following his removal, Tushar Arothe took over from her with Ramesh Powar and WV Raman being his successors. Powar was removed from the post after a fall-out with Mithali Raj in 2018 as the reign was handed over to WV Raman.