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Find of the season Kyle Jamieson has 'a real strong desire to improve' – Kane Williamson

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Being No. 1 “means that there’s been a lot of hard work over a lot of matches and trainings” New Zealand captain says

Umar Farooq06-Jan-2021New Zealand have made it four wins out of four in their home Test summer, and become No. 1 in the world in the format for the first time, while also extending their unbeaten streak at home to 17. Kane Williamson feels this consistency is down to “the drastic changes in terms of the culture” in the team put in place during Brendon McCullum’s stint as captain, which has given them the license to play fearless cricket.”My observation of teams is that over a period of time, you have changes in personnel and obviously under Brendon the drastic changes in terms of the culture started things off to a large extent,” he said after New Zealand swept the two-Test series against Pakistan with an innings-and-176-run win at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Wednesday. “From our perspective, it’s just been trying to build, grow and adjust when needed as time goes by, and that’s a continuation, and something that we’ll try to focus on and continue to improve on.”I don’t know how the rankings work exactly, but I know they sort of span over a period of time, which, I suppose, means that there’s been a lot of hard work over a lot of matches and trainings and all these sorts of things to to reach that. So a very special moment from the guys. It was hard to talk about until perhaps the summer was over, so it’s nice to be able to sit back now and enjoy the moment.”New Zealand have now won six Tests at home in a row, against India, West Indies and Pakistan, their best streak ever, and it’s kept alive their hopes of making it to the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June.Related

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Williamson was named the Player of the Match in Christchurch for his 238 in New Zealand’s only innings, but Kyle Jamieson, playing only his sixth Test, was as crucial to the outcome with his match haul of 11 wickets. Only Richard Hadlee (thrice) and Daniel Vettori (twice) have had better match returns than Jamieson’s 11 for 117 for New Zealand, while only three bowlers with at least 20 wickets have had better averages than Jamieson’s 13.27 after six Tests.”Some younger guys have come in, the likes of Daryl Mitchell [who scored his maiden Test century in Christchurch] and Kyle Jamison, you know, especially in this game where there were some outstanding performances, contributions… But more the attitude that they brought in terms of their performance is most satisfying,” Williamson said. “Their efforts that went into just trying to move the team forward, and perhaps get the side across the line, that’s really special and something that we do focus on as a team and try to build on as a unit moving forward as well.A souvenir to remember the 11 iwickets by•Getty Images

“Kyle is extremely good at bat and ball, a very, very special talent. I think if he continues to – and I’m sure he will, he’s got a great head on his shoulders – bring that great attitude that he has… things have come very thick and fast for Kyle, which is a really enjoyable part of the game, but also something that he’s learning a bit about as well and learning about himself.”He’s got a real strong desire to improve and pick the brains of some of these other senior guys that have been around for a long time, so he’s a humble guy and a player that just wants to continue to get better.”As for Pakistan, they did show some fight in the second innings of the first Test, almost forcing a draw courtesy the 165-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan. But they have been outplayed outside of that in all departments.”The game is truly a game of small margins – we’re very pleased with the efforts that went into these last two games, but we we know the quality side that the Pakistanis have,” Williamson said. “There were definitely moments in both games that either went our way, or perhaps moments that we seized that went a long way to changing the result or putting the result in our favor.”I guess, on the scorecard, this game appeared to be one-sided, but you knew it wasn’t as the quality that they have in their attack, that things can happen really quickly with the new ball.”

Missing Christmas made up Ben Dunk's mind over leaving Melbourne Stars

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Dunk has not ruled out returning to the BBL but may prioritise overseas competitions to fit around family life

Matt Roller27-Jan-2021Ben Dunk has pinpointed Christmas Day as the moment when he realised that he wanted to terminate his contract with Melbourne Stars after three-and-a-half seasons at the club.Dunk signed a five-year deal with the Stars ahead of the 2017-18 Big Bash having led the tournament’s run charts the previous season, but performed a long way below expectations during his time at the club. In 39 innings for the Stars across four seasons, he made 621 runs at an average of 16.34 and a strike rate of 115.34, regularly moving up and down the order as they desperately tried to help him replicate the form he had shown in the Pakistan Super League and the Mzansi Super League.This season, he made 69 runs in six matches – including two as an X-factor sub – and after spending Christmas away from his family in the tournament’s hub on the Gold Coast, Dunk and the Stars came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract midway through the season.The termination allowed him to fly to the UAE to take up his contract with the Qalandars in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. He finished his quarantine period at the start of the week, and trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Tuesday night ahead of their first fixture on Friday.Related

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At a media briefing which coincided with the Stars’ elimination from the competition – he had listened to the first innings on the radio after struggling to find TV coverage – Dunk admitted that he had struggled to come to terms with his lack of role security at the club.”My position at the Stars was not secured in the team,” he said. “With the rule changes, I’d been the X-factor player quite a bit – so I was playing some games, some not, keeping wicket in some games, some not. As players, we live for gamedays, and time away from home when you’re not playing was proving difficult.”I’ve got two young children at home, so Christmas time is really important to me. It really hit home this year when I was in the hub on the Gold Coast and my family were back in Hobart on Christmas Day. I’ve got a little boy who turns four in February and understands what Christmas is and gets really excited. That made the decision a little bit easier, in terms of trying to free up time to be with family.”And while Dunk insisted that he had no plans to retire from the BBL, he conceded that the uncertainty over the cricket calendar on account of the pandemic and his reluctance to miss another family Christmas meant that he may not make himself available for the full season if approached by a team. At 33, Dunk remains a popular pick in several leagues around the world, and he hinted that he would consider prioritising other tournaments over the BBL.”The pandemic has thrown the cricket calendar into absolute chaos,” Dunk said. “When you include the two weeks of hotel quarantine when I get back to Australia, it’s just another bit of murkiness in the water. I certainly want to explore my playing options, especially around the world.Ben Dunk has continued to be a consistent scorer in overseas leagues•Pakistan Super League

“The Big Bash obviously has that window all the way through to mid-February, which is a long time in a cricket season. Who knows what will be going on, especially with the pandemic? With the Big Bash, [we don’t know] whether that’s going to stay in that slot for the same period of time, whether the South African comp [Mzansi Super League] gets back up and running, Bangladesh, the T10 – there’s a lot of cricket to be played.”From my own, selfish point of view, it’s nice to be free around that sort of time. But I’m certainly not retiring from the Big Bash – there might be an opportunity there to play next year in a limited capacity, depending on what else is going on around the world.”More immediately, Dunk expressed his excitement about the opportunity to play with both Tom Banton and Rashid Khan in the T10 League and the upcoming PSL respectively. He will play for the Qalandars franchise in both competitions, under their Lahore guise in the PSL.”I’ve come across [Banton] a couple of times at the Big Bash and the PSL but we’ve never been in the same team, so I’m excited to see him up close and see how he works. He’s an exciting player who I think we’ll watch for a long period of time.”In the PSL, we went on a great journey last year, all the way through to the final where we were beaten on the day by a better team in Karachi. I’m really excited to play with Rashid Khan – he’ll be a great addition to our squad and hopefully we can go one better.”

Tasmania edge ahead after Jarrod Freeman takes out Victoria's middle order

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

The home side could only manage a very narrow first-innings lead in tricky conditions

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2021A tight, low-scoring contest was unfolding at the MCG with Tasmania having their noses in front after restricting Victoria to a first-innings lead of just 11 and then slowly starting the process of building a target.Despite losing Jordan Silk, lbw to the impressive James Pattinson, and Charlie Wakim who was sharply caught at second slip they held a lead of 53 at stumps with Mac Wright having fought doggedly for 110 balls.As it had on the opening day, the ball held sway throughout starting with Peter Handscomb and nightwatchman Scott Boland, who took 43 balls to get off the mark, weathering the early excellent of Jackson Bird.Handscomb had 73 out of a total of 96 when he fell to a brute of a delivery from Nathan Ellis that jagged away late to take the edge then Bird was rewarded when Boland drove to mid-off to leave Victoria 5 for 96.The scoring rate was rarely much about two an over but having battled against the excellent seam bowling it was the offspin of Jarrod Freeman which undid the middle order. Seb Gotch (cover), Jake Fraser-McGurk (mid-on) and James Pattinson (mid-off) all fell to lofted catches to the in-field as they tried to take on the spin.Will Sutherland played a handy innings, pushing Victoria into the lead, before Peter Siddle, who was bowling with a heavily bandaged left thumb after injuring himself earlier in the day, and Bird wrapped up the innings.

Tim Paine's career rollercoaster gives him dose of perspective

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Australia’s Test captain is keen to play as much cricket as he can for Tasmania in the latter part of the season

Andrew McGlashan16-Feb-2021It’s unlikely that Tim Paine will be seen with ball in hand over the next few days, but Australia’s Test captain is eager to get back out into the middle for Tasmania with the resumption of the Sheffield Shield having had almost a month to reflect on the series defeat against India.The 2-1 loss, which finished with India’s dramatic run chase in the final session at the Gabba, has led to a hefty post-mortem of the Test side which is now set to remain in moth balls until the end of the year with the South Africa tour postponed and the World Test Championship final out of their hands.Paine has debriefed the series with Justin Langer – who himself has come under pressure amid talk of dressing-room tension – and the rest of the coaching staff including as recently as Tuesday. He expected significant fallout which is usually the case when Australia lose at home but believes the ups and downs of his career have helped him.Related

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“I was okay, I knew it was going to come, it’s part and parcel of this job and I’ve seen it with a number of captains before. If you don’t win, the heat’s going to come,” Paine told . “I’ve been through a lot, seen a lot, actually had my career taken away then given back to me so I things differently to most cricketers.”I knew it was going to come and most of it is a critique of me as a cricketer and a captain. As long as it’s not a personal attack I couldn’t care less. All that worries me is what my team-mates think and what the staff think and the feedback from them is I’m doing a good job still. I could have done some things differently, no doubt about that, unfortunately you don’t have hindsight out in the middle.”Paine, who averaged 31.20 in the first part of the Sheffield Shield season which included a third first-class century, will captain Tasmania as their season resumes at home against Queensland with Matthew Wade part of Australia’s T20I squad in New Zealand.

He was with the Hobart Hurricanes squad for the back end of the BBL although did not get a game, but his outing in club cricket recently caught the attention when he sent down medium pace and offspin. “There was a little bit of shape but couldn’t get them on line unfortunately,” he said.On a more serious note, Paine is keen for as much cricket as he can get domestically in the latter part of the season knowing he faces a long winter of downtime. When Australia’s Test cricket looks likely to resume in December, Paine will have played just nine internationals in two years.”The Sydney and Brisbane parts [against India] were a bit draining mentally but physically feel great,” he said. “I only played four Tests in however long. If anything I feel like I need to be playing more cricket, I feel like I play much better when I have the consistency of week in week out games so for me to get back into Shield cricket and some one-dayers for Tassie and be consistently playing is exactly what I’m after. Been home now for a few weeks and raring to go again.”

Pakistan PM Imran Khan tests positive for Covid-19, enters self-isolation

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The 68-year old is said to be experiencing mild symptoms

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Mar-2021Pakistan Prime Minister and former cricket captain Imran Khan has tested positive for Covid-19. The news was confirmed by Dr Faisal Sultan, an infectious diseases expert and special advisor to the PM on health. Khan, 68, is understood to be experiencing mild symptoms, with Sultan confirming he would be self-isolating at home.Khan was given his first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine two days earlier, and his advisors were keen to point out, immunity takes time to kick in after a shot and the vaccine itself does not infect people with the virus. A number of doctors and government officials hastened to add this wasn’t a reason for people not to get vaccinated, a crucial message in a country where vaccine take-up has been low.Khan became prime minister in August 2018 after his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) won the largest number of seats. Since the start of the pandemic, he has resisted the imposition of a complete lockdown, with the government implementing what they have called “smart lockdowns”, targeting specific regions that have seen outbreaks spike. Over the past few days, Khan has been making public appearances, inaugurating projects and meeting people, with the government urging anyone who has been in close contact with him to get themselves tested.Pakistan has been spared the worst effects of the virus over the duration of the pandemic. There have been, to date, around 625,000 cases and under 14,000 deaths since the first case was recorded in February 2020.But that has changed recently, with a clear rise in cases and hospital admissions over the past month indicating a third wave of the pandemic. Just last week, the government announced all restaurants in Punjab, the largest province, would be closed temporarily. With social distancing measures and mask-wearing relatively low, there have been warnings Pakistan might have to close all non-essential businesses and implement a complete lockdown to get the virus under control.

Alex Lees resists with 99 as Josh Tongue five-for lays marker for Worcestershire

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Hosts recover to post competitive 246 on opening day at Chester-le-Street

ECB Reporters Network13-May-2021Worcestershire 6 for 0 trail Durham 246 (Lees 99, Tongue 5-39) by 240 runsWorcestershire’s Josh Tongue claimed a five-wicket haul to bowl Durham out for 246 on the opening day of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Emirates Riverside.Tongue was on the mark for the visitors to tear through the Durham middle and lower order with figures of 5 for 39 in his second appearance of the campaign. Alex Lees continued his fine form for the hosts with the bat, falling just short of a deserved century with an innings of 99.Through Lees’ exploits and an unbeaten 38 from Brydon Carse, the home side worked their way to a competitive total. The Worcestershire openers were faced with a tough three-over spell before bad light brought a premature end to the day with the visitors six without loss.Worcestershire’s bowlers found their rhythm after inserting the home side. The Durham openers found life tricky against the new ball and Joe Leach, who was rewarded for a fine opening spell when he pinned Will Young lbw with an inswinger. Charlie Morris maintained the pressure for the visitors and removed Scott Borthwick, who edged to Tom Fell at third slip.Lees and David Bedingham stemmed the tide and saw the home side through to the lunch interval without further damage at 80 for 2. The two players put on fifty for the third wicket, but a loose Bedingham drive allowed Morris to break the stand. Lees was the only batsman that seemed comfortable, and he manoeuvred his way to his third fifty of the season from 145 balls.Tongue turned the day in favour of the visitors as he ended a promising partnership between Lees and Jack Burnham, removing the latter lbw for 23 before using a well-aimed bouncer to force Ned Eckersley to play on to his stumps.Lees accelerated the rate of his innings amid the clatter of wickets at the opposite end. He surged his way into the nineties with a fine array of strokes, but was agonisingly caught behind from a wide ball from Leach on 99 on the stroke of tea.Carse and Mark Wood added valuable runs for the ninth wicket to take Durham past the 200-run mark and their first batting point. However, Tongue wrapped up the innings with two excellent deliveries to skittle Wood and Chris Rushworth to claim his first five-wicket haul of the term.

Jayden Seales provides silver lining as Kraigg Brathwaite rues collapse

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19-year-old quick has big future, says captain, after three-wicket debut

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2021Despite slumping to an innings defeat before lunch on the third day of the first Test in St Lucia, West Indies had one undoubted silver lining in the form of their debutant fast bowler, Jayden Seales, whose fiery performance in a losing cause hinted at a hugely promising future in the sport.Seales, 19, had played just one first-class game before he was thrust into the Test team against South Africa – and that came last winter on West Indies’ tour of New Zealand – but Kraigg Brathwaite, the captain, said he saw enough in that display to know he was ready for higher honours.”The first time I saw him was in New Zealand, and I just knew he had a natural length,” Brathwaite said. “Not all bowlers have that natural length, and he obviously swings the ball. So I was not surprised by his performance in this game, or for the future.”Seales finished South Africa’s only innings of the first Test with figures of 3 for 75 in 21 overs, having bagged his maiden wicket in his first over of the game, as Keegan Petersen spliced an edge to Jason Holder at second slip. He followed up with two more in consecutive overs at the end of the first day, before Quinton de Kock took the match away with a superb 141 not out.”I think he’s something special and obviously he’s quite young, he’s only played one first-class game,” Brathwaite said. “That says a lot. Even at practice, there are different little things that he does with the ball, and what he says to back it up, is quite phenomenal. For sure, he’s one for the future, big time.Related

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“Fast bowling is hard work. In this game, he bowled over 20 overs and he never once complained. Obviously he’s young, but he was strong, his pace was up throughout, and I really think he’s something special for sure.”With his strong approach to the crease and powerful shoulders though his action, Seales drew some mid-match comparison with West Indies’ star of the second innings, Kagiso Rabada, who mopped up the resistance with figures of 5 for 34, his first five-wicket haul since March 2018.”He is a great prospect for West Indies,” Rabada said. “They have always produced those who can bowl really well, right from the 1980s. They are continuing the prestigious lineage of producing fast bowlers.”He has come to the fore,” he added. “I don’t know how much he tried to copy me. I think he is just natural. I don’t see a huge similarity, maybe a small similarity between our bowling. He is a good bowler and he showed that. I wish him all the best.”Reflecting on West Indies’ failings in the first Test, Brathwaite rued their collapse to 97 all out on the first day of the match, after which their defeat was only ever a matter of time. However, he denied he had erred in choosing to bat first.”We saw today some variable bounce, the pitch was a little dry, but we didn’t bat well in the first innings so we were under pressure from the start.,” he said. “We were always on the back foot.””[South Africa] are quality bowlers but even batting second we thought they would be quality. In the second Test, we’ve got to bat better. As a group we bowled well, and Seales in his first Test was magnificent. [Roston] Chase showed fight today, but that first innings hampered us a lot.””We’ll take a little break and come back stronger,” he added. “For me it’s about getting your mind in the right place. It’s more mental than technical.”

Daniel Bell-Drummond fifty enough as Essex collapse before the rain

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Harmer takes four for Essex but bad weather has final say in local rivalry

ECB Reporters' Network25-Jun-2021Daniel Bell-Drummond hammered 50 off 29 balls as Kent Spitfires beat Essex Eagles by 18 runs on DLS – after lightning and then rain brought an early end to the Vitality Blast match.Bell-Drummond clubbed his third fifty of the competition during an 89-run stand for the first wicket with Zak Crawley.The Spitfires endured two collapses to slump to 167 for 9 as Simon Harmer claimed 4 for 26, including his 50th Blast wicket for Essex, and Dan Lawrence a county T20 record of four catches in the innings.But 31 for 4, including two scalps for Matt Milnes, in five overs meant the Eagles were short of the DLS target of 59 – handing Kent their sixth victory of the campaign.Bell-Drummond and Crawley got the Spitfires off to a flyer having been stuck in by Harmer on a used hybrid track.Crawley received two lives, dropped on 1 and 14, as Bell-Drummond slapped Jamie Porter for two sixes – the visitors pummelling 82 off the Powerplay.But after two miserly overs, Kent collapsed in sensational style with five wickets lost for 22 runs in 25 balls, as spin took over.Nijjar, who eventually took 1 for 13 in an ungenerous spell, celebrated with Cristiano Ronaldo’s iconic ‘Sii’ leap after bowling Crawley for 43, before Joe Denly was caught by Lawrence at deep midwicket trying to replicate the six he had struck the previous ball and Jack Leaning was stumped off Harmer.Lawrence turned snarer when Bell Drummond – who had reached a 28-ball half-century – spliced to a sprawling Harmer and Alex Blake was caught behind.Newly-contracted Darren Stevens and Jordan Cox resuscitated the innings with a 44-run stand, with Stevens clubbing a pair of sixes, but another wicket furry ended the innings – this time four wickets falling in 16 balls.Stevens, Cox and Qais Ahmed were all caught by Lawrence and Matt Milnes was bowled by Jimmy Neesham with the last ball.Unlike the Spitfires, the Eagles did not pump runs early on. Will Buttleman was beaten by Milnes’ pace and bounce to be caught behind and Adam Wheater was leg-before attempting to sweep Joe Denly.Michael Pepper chipped a Milnes slower ball to mid-off and former Spitfire Jimmy Neesham edged Fred Klaassen thickly to gully.With lightning striking behind the Hayes Close End and then rain the game was called off after the fifth over – the minimum needed to create a result.

As it happened – India vs New Zealand, WTC final, Southampton, 4th day

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

All the stats, analysis and colour from the title bout of the inaugural World Test Championship

Sidharth Monga21-Jun-2021
Those in the US can watch in English or Hindi here3pm

That’s it for day 4 then

ICC/Getty Images

They have taken the call to end it here. We now have a maximum of 196 overs to get a result out of this otherwise the trophy and the award money will be shared. I leave you with this yarn from Nagraj Gollapudi:

Gopi walks from behind as I stare at the empty expanse of the wet and soggy Hampshire Bowl. We are standing at the mouth of one of the alleyways in the bowels the Shane Warne stand. “I need to decide whether to stay back or head back,” Gopi says.Gopi is from a small village in Madurai in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is in London for a short duration on an assignment with an IT company. His working hours are synched with the US timezone and hence he is desperate to know whether the fourth day of the WTC final will start at all or should he head back. Gopi has to start work at 1500 hours UK time (1930 IST) but reckons he can still pull it off in case he leaves for London by 1600 hours.Monday is a very special day in his life: it is the first time Gopi has come to a cricket ground. After a work colleague cancelled his visit, Gopi bought the ticket, a gold category one, for 150 pounds (about INR 15000). Gopi paid an extra 49 pounds to get his return train ticket on Monday from London and spent another 10 quid for the bus journey to the ground.Why did he want to come to the ground when the rain had been forecast for the virtually the entire day? “I just hoped there would play,” Gopi says, mouth covered by the mask, but with twinkling eyes and a gold ear stud shimmering in the gloomy light. “It is a big day for me. I come from a middle-class family froma village near Madurai. In India I could never think of buying a ticket and going to a match while I was growing up. But now I got the opportunity so I took it up.”While at the ground Gopi went closer to the on-site team hotel to wave at some Indian players including Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and even spotted Virat Kohli and his family holed up in their room. Will he disappointed if there is no play? “No. I came the ground and it is an experience I will not forget. I still got to watch some players and feel happy that I come.”Even if there is no play on Monday Gopi says he will be back on Wednesday when the ticket prices will be halved. He has already asked his friends to buy him one.As the drizzle carries on I leave Gopi to wrestle with the vital question: stay back or go?

2.40pm

Kohli’s non-centuries

Virat Kohli hasn’t scored a century since November 2019, but he has played some gems nonetheless. Which one do you think is the best?

And this is what Ashwin is up to

12.30pm

Flying Sikh

That’s what Andrew Miller is having•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

In normal circumstances, we’d be saying this is time for lunch, but it is raining, and it still is time for lunch. Do spend this time reading this tribute to Milkha Singh, the man India wore black armbands for, written by the man who played him in his biopic.11.45am

Does India’s front-foot game also have a downside?

It still looks nasty in Southampton. So let’s listen to this analysis9:15

Did too much front-foot play hurt India? Sanjay Manjrekar demonstrates

10am

Wet wet wet

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The news, as you have seen over at our ball-by-ball commentary, is that we are in for a long delay. It has been raining, and it is raining in Southampton. So settle in: we will bring you updates, analysis, stories and distractions as we go along.

Chris Benjamin's 37* seals Phoenix win after Moeen Ali, Will Smeed contributions

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Hosts join Hundred front runners with six-wicket victory over Invincibles in Edgbaston run-fest

ECB Reporters Network04-Aug-2021Birmingham Phoenix jumped right among the Hundred front runners with a thrilling six-wicket victory over Oval Invincibles in a runfest at Edgbaston.A powerhouse innings from Colin Ingram – 81 from 43 balls – lifted the Invincibles to 172 for 3 – the second-highest total in the Hundred.The 36-year-old built on a fast start from Jason Roy (38, 22 balls) and hit eight fours and four sixes, many coming in a third-wicket stand of 72 in 39 balls with captain Sam Billings (24, 17 balls).But the Phoenix reeled in the tall target, reaching 174 for 4 with six balls to spare thanks to Moeen Ali’s 49 off 26 balls, Will Smeed’s 45 from 28 and a dazzling cameo by Chris Benjamin, whose unbeaten 37 from 16 balls tilted a knife-edge contest his side’s way.After choosing to bowl, the Phoenix started well with Adam Milne and Imran Tahir each conceding just a single from their first over. The Invincibles then hit their stride, though, Roy batting with characteristic power, hitting five fours and a six before he was bowled by a slower ball from Benny Howell.Ingram and Billings accelerated in a violent partnership which ended when the latter lifted Pat Brown to long off where Howell took a fine catch. Ingram cleared the ropes in each of the last two overs to provide late impetus and round off a perfectly paced innings from the South African.Finn Allen’s 23 off 13 balls gave the Phoenix reply a fiery start with five fours in eight balls but he fell in strange fashion when he played back to Sunil Narine’s first ball and trod on his wicket.Liam Livingstone heaved one huge six but was denied another when Laurie Evans took a stinging catch on the mid-wicket rope to give Tabraiz Shamsi his first wicket.Sneed stepped it up after a watchful start but skied Saqib Mahmood to extra cover. With such a big target, the pressure on the Phoenix batters was high but Ali responded with a furious attack which included successive sixes off Tom Curran. The skipper was within one run of a half-century when Curran got his revenge, taking a superb catch at deep mid-wicket.That left the Phoenix needing 34 from 25 balls. Benjamin got to grips with the task straight away, trimming the target to ten fom ten and then striking the winning four to continue his fairy-tale rise.

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