SA vs IND | 1st Test, 4th Day: Jansen, Rabada affect another collapse but India set big target

BBL 11 | Sydney Sixers make miraculous escape despite awful batting performance

Chasing just 105 runs from 20 overs, Sydney Sixers just about scrapped through against Brisbane Heat, playing at the SCG on Wednesday, 29 December. What seemed like an easy chase in the first innings, turned out to be an absolute nightmare for the home team after the first few overs. The start could not have been any worse, as their prolific opening duo of Josh Philippe and James Vince went back to the hut without putting up a single run on board. Sixers kept toppling down one by one and at a point of time were down by 7 wickets for just 35 runs in 9 overs. Sixers’ downfall was due to their poor shot selection, on a pitch where the ball clearly did not come well onto the bat. However, like in a classical batting order collapse, and Sixers found their hero who put up some much needed resistance in their lower order. And who could it have been apart from Sean Abbott. Man with the most wickets in BBL history, the person who scalped four in the first innings and took a superman effort in the outfield; Sean Abbott scored an unbeaten 37 off 43 balls to see the Sixers through. It was not an easy task though. First Abbott had to stick in and soak the pressure. Once that happened and Sixers took on the power surge, lucky boundaries kept on coming owing to some desperation from the batting side. Just when the equation had come down to favouring Sydney, things changed again. Needing just two runs from the last over with two wickets in hand Sixers conceded four dot balls bringing down the equation to 1 off the line ball. Just when it looked like we would have a Super Over in the BBL, Abbott stepped down in the final ball of the over and smashed a boundary through the packed in ring field for a four through mid wicket, winning Sixers the game. Earlier in the innings, Sixers’ pace attack dominated Heat to force them to their lowest total this year - 105 all out in 19.1 overs. Abbott was the hero picking up four wickets and helping Ben Dwarshuis clean up the entire top order. With this win, Sixers are now at the top of the table with 21 points from 7 games.

Ben McDermott becomes first batsman to score two tons on the trot in BBL history

Hobart Hurricanes’ Ben McDermott became the first batsman in the history of Big Bash league to hit two centuries on the trot. McDermott achieved the feat during the clash against Melbourne Renegades in Melbourne on Wednesday. The Hurricanes didn’t really have a good start to the proceedings while batting first as they lost three early wickets but McDermott took the onus on himself and steadied the ship from one end to stitch a partnership of 115 with Peter Handscomb for the fourth wicket. Handscomb struck 24 off 20 while McDermott smashed a 65-ball 127 which included 9 sixes and as many fours during the course. He was eventually run out on the final ball of the innings. Tim David who had come in at number 6 chipped in with a brisk 30* off 9 as the side posted 206/5 in 20 overs. “Pretty special. But it is still job half done, wouldn't want a hundred in a losing cause. Batting first is always different as you are setting a target and not sure how much is enough (comparing the two hundreds). I didn't want to go into the shell and give them an opportunity to get on top. Hopefully we have enough to defend,” he Dermott said after the innings. He had earlier scored a hundred against Strikers where he notched up 110* in Hobart. At the time of writing, the Renegades had lost an early wicket in the form of Aaron Finch’s dismissal and were 23/1 in 2.1 overs.

SA vs IND |1st Test, Day 4: Proteas strike twice but Kohli, Pujara extend India’s lead beyond 200

South Africa managed to pick up two wickets early on the fourth day despite not bowling well according to the nature of the pitch and conditions and sent back both the overnight batsmen KL Rahul and Shardul Thakur. They also created the opportunity to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara but Kagiso Rabada split an easy chance at short mid-on and he got a big reprieve. The next man in, Virat Kohli looked good during his stay at the crease and both he and Pujara cashed in on the boundary-scoring opportunity to keep the scoreboard moving. India have managed to extend their lead to 209 runs by the end of the first session on the penultimate day of the game and Kohli would look to take the attack to the opposition to take his side to a big total. There are rain forecasts for tomorrow and hence the visitors will be looking to mount a big score for the Proteas to chase. They would hope to press on in the afternoon session for more runs and push Proteas under pressure.

SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 4: Ball tracking continues to create confusion in otherwise great contest

Although there have been a fair bit of competition between bat and ball in the ongoing first Test of the series between India and South Africa, the issue of technology in the game has also attracted a fair bit of unwarranted attention from players and watchers of the game. There were numerous instances of confusion and uncertainty about the hawk-eye that charts the path of deliveries and helps the umpire in making decisions and broadcasters in analysing the game and the issue came to the fore on the fourth day of the Test as well after South Africa wasted a review against Shardul Thakur. Shardul left a delivery from Marco Jansen on the final ball of the 10th over in India’s second innings only to be hit on the pads. South Africa opted for review as they believed the ball was to hit the stumps. The ball, however, appeared to be missing the stumps on hawk-eye. The decision was not contentious but subsequent replays of that and following deliveries to KL Rahul showed a bizarre level of bounce on hawk-eye which was not the case in the real-time play. Earlier, on the third day, the Indian team led by Virat Kohli made clear their dissatisfaction for the lack of display of DRS methodology on the big screen at the venue. Earlier on the first day, Mayank Agarwal was given out on DRS when hawk-eye suggested that the ball was to hit the stumps. Former players such as Wasim Jaffer questioned the path of the ball shown by the ball tracking and said that the ball at best could have just hit the stumps leading to upholding of the umpire’s decision which was not out.