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Batter takes over from Roland-Jones and Eskinazi as club continues to undergo mid-season upheaval

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2025Leus du Plooy has been named as Middlesex’s captain for their County Championship and T20 Blast campaigns, in a continuation of the club’s mid-season upheaval that has also involved the departure of head coach Richard Johnson and batting consultant Mark Ramprakash.Du Plooy, 30, joined Middlesex from Derbyshire ahead of the 2024 season and has since made 1,601 runs in 36 appearances across both formats.He will take over as T20 captain from Stevie Eskinazi, who has stepped down for personal reasons, and his first match in charge will come against Hampshire at Merchant Taylors’ School on Wednesday.Du Plooy will also take over from Toby Roland-Jones as Middlesex’s red-ball captain, with the club currently second-from-bottom in Division Two, and a long way adrift of their pre-season hopes of an immediate return to the top flight. Though his own form has been decent, with 28 wickets at 27.92 and a best of 5 for 33, Roland-Jones has left the role by mutual consent.”I am extremely proud to have been asked to captain Middlesex in both formats and am very much looking forward to a strong finish to this season and to working with the leadership group ahead of 2026,” Du Plooy said in a statement on the club website.”I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of the Middlesex playing squad since the start of last season and have high hopes for what this talented group of players can achieve.”Alan Coleman, Middlesex’s director of cricket, thanked Eskinazi and Roland-Jones for their efforts in leading the club through a difficult period that has included tight constraints in light of the club’s well-documented financial issues.He also welcomed du Plooy as captain, saying he had been a been a key voice in the senior playing group, a natural leader, and a “terrific influence on the young members in our squad”.”Appointing Leus as captain allows us to build for the long-term, as we look to develop this group of players and continue to build a successful and winning team in all formats.”

Marizanne Kapp hit a career-best in her 100th T20I but it wasn’t enough for the visitors in the decider

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2024Australia bounced back from a shock T20I loss to South Africa, clinching success in a tense series decider on the back of a classy 82 from Beth Mooney who had struggled with illness earlier in the day and was unsure if she would playThe opener’s 55-ball knock helped Australia get past the visitors’ 162 for 7 with five wickets in hand and four balls to spare in HobartMooney lost partners regularly before falling in the 18th over with her side needing 14 runs from 14 balls. Ashleigh Gardner held her nerve to seal the win with a boundary.South Africa earlier posted their highest T20I score against Australia, headlined by a career-best 48-ball 75 from Marizanne Kapp in her 100th T20I.South Africa forced a deciding T20 game after notching their first victory over Australia in any format on Sunday to level the ledger at 1-1.Mooney, who hit an unbeaten 72 in the opening game, struck the ball cleanly from the outset and finished with 11 fours and one six. Fellow opener and Alyssa Healy failed to fire as did Ellyse Perry who was elevated to number No.3.After her team was sent in to bat, Kapp helped South Africa recover from a wobbly 28 for 3 in the fifth over.  The allrounder shared an 80-run partnership from just 57 balls with Anneke Bosch, who supported well with 21.Kapp’s score surpassed her previous best of 56 and came after she was dropped on 19 in the outfield.  She was dismissed in the 17th over when Tahlia McGrath snuck a slower ball that crashed into the stumps.Australia’s Grace Harris was in the action early, taking two catches and running out Sune Luus with a direct hit.Chloe Tryon chipped in with an important 26 from 16 balls late in the innings before being caught and bowled by spinner Georgia Wareham in the 18th over.Nadine de Klerk also swung hard at the death, finishing with an unbeaten 20 from 11 balls including two fours off the last three deliveries.Wareham was Australia’s most economical bowler with 1 for 25 from four overs, while quick Darcie Brown (0 for 27 from two overs) copped some stick after sitting out the previous match.

The storm is likely to reach its peak over Antigua, where the series was originally scheduled to begin on September 16

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2022The schedule of matches for the West Indies vs New Zealand women’s series has been rejigged*, after the impact of the tropical storm Fiona forced the organisers to postpone the first game, scheduled for Friday in Antigua. The three ODIs will now be played on Monday (Sep 19), Thursday (Sep 22) and Sunday (Sep 25), followed by the five T20Is. All the matches will be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.The change of dates has been made keeping in mind the possible impact of Fiona over the next couple of days. It has already caused extensive showers in Antigua, and is likely to reach its peak over Antigua and the Leeward Islands later on Friday.”We have put player safety at the forefront of this decision and will be working very closely with New Zealand Cricket to protect all the internationals matches via a revised schedule if possible,” CWI director of cricket Jimmy Adams said in a statement a while before the reschedule was made public. “We are very keen to get as much high-quality competitive cricket for our women’s team as possible, especially in this period leading into next year’s Women’s T20 World Cup.”The T20Is will be played between September 28 and October 6.The ODI series counts towards the ICC Women’s Championship and eventual qualification for the 2025 ODI World Cup, while the T20I series serves as preparation for the 2023 T20 World Cup, to be played in February in South Africa. Neither side has played a game in the Women’s Championship cycle so far.It is the first series for West Indies where Hayley Matthews will lead the side as the official captain, and the first since Deandra Dottin announced her retirement rather abruptly last month. It will also be West Indies’ first series in any format since they lost the semi-final to eventual champions Australia in the ODI World Cup in March earlier this year.*September 16, 05.20 GMT – This article was updated after NZC published the new schedule on its website.

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.

The 32-year old fast bowler has a more rounded bowling arsenal and that will be vital as he goes up against India’s batting might

Deivarayan Muthu22-Jan-2020Hamish Bennett had made his Test debut along with Kane Williamson in 2010. He bolted into New Zealand’s World Cup squad the next year and later, in 2014, he gave Virat Kohli a proper workout in tied ODI with his searing pace.Bennett nailed the hard lengths and stopped Kohli from pulling or driving in a sequence of back-to-back maidens. Then, he had the batsman nicking off with a 143kph rocket that took off after landing on the pitch. Kohli v Bennett: 1 off 16 balls at a strike rate of 6.25.Fast-forward to 2020: Williamson and Kohli are now international veterans and world beaters. Bennett, meanwhile, is preparing to make his T20I debut in the series opener against India at Eden Park – the scene of his incredible burst against Kohli.This Kohli is a white-ball monster. These India players are, as Ross Taylor put it, rock stars. Former batting coach Craig McMillian calls them the real deal. New Zealand, though, are missing several of their first-choice seamers, including Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult and Matt Henry. In their injury-enforced absence, they have turned back to Bennett, who is a also a changed cricketer.He’s no longer a one-trick pony, who just bounces out batsmen. He has overcome multiple injuries and has transformed himself into a well-rounded white-ball bowler, and is currently the holder of both the 50-over Ford Trophy and the 20-over Super Smash titles.ALSO READ: Southee backs New Zealand to bounce back from Australia set backIn the final against Auckland Aces earlier this week, where the Wellington Firebirds were defending 168, he began his spell in the Powerplay with a brace of lifters, having Martin Guptill ducking and weaving. Then, when Bennett missed his lengths and went too full, Guptill planted his front leg and cracked him for a brace of fours.Having conceded 11 runs in his opening over, he came back strongly in his second, the fifth of the innings, and had Colin Munro nicking behind with a back-of-a-length delivery that seamed away. Guptill, though, settled down and rebuilt the innings with Craig Cachopa, pushing the Aces to 82 for 3 in the 12th over.Bennett hit hard lengths once again and mixed it up with his offcutters to hike the required rate close to 12. One such offcutter, reared off the pitch and took the splice of Guptill’s bat before streaking away towards cover prompting the batsman to just see off the bowler’s third over.Hamish Bennett exults after getting rid of Virat Kohli•Associated Press

With wickets falling around him, Guptill aimed to take the chase deep, but with the Aces needing 52 off 18 balls, he had to go for broke. And he happened to run into Bennett again. When Bennett bowled length and outside off, Guptill lined him up and smoked him over midwicket for six. Bennett went much fuller the next ball and Guptill helicoptered it, MS Dhoni-style, with his strong wrists. The ball seemed destined to sail over the midwicket boundary, until Logan van Beek pulled off a stunning relay catch. The wicket was down to van Beek’s brilliance at the edge of the boundary and some luck, but the pressure created by Bennett earlier had also played a part. The Aces’ gun batsman was gone for 60 off 53 balls. Game over for them.All told, Bennett has been among the most consistent T20 bowlers in New Zealand over the past couple of seasons. He has 26 wickets in 20 games at an economy rate of 8.06. Kyle Jamieson (30 wickets), Mitchell McClenaghan (27), his Firebirds team-mate Ollie Newton (27), Ajaz Patel (27) and Blair Tickner (27), have picked up more wickets than him but they have come at greater cost. In this season alone, Bennett has bagged 17 wickets in 11 games at an economy rate of 7.20 and emerged as the leading wicket-taker.He has also been in fine form in the Ford Trophy and has developed a reputation of being a bowling leader at Wellington, after a decade-long stint at Canterbury. The switch up north has switched his fortunes as well, and in the absence of Boult and co. Bennett is likely to shoulder the bowling load for New Zealand along with Southee.”He has done extremely well in white-ball cricket for Wellington – not only the T20s but the one-day stuff as well,” Southee said of Bennett on Wednesday. “He has earned his recall and it has been a while and he knows his game now. He’s a little bit older and I’m sure he’s excited about the challenge and he probably is bowling as well as he has ever in his career. Pleased for him, [I’ve] played a bit of cricket [with him] when I was younger. So, nice to see him still trucking in and getting another opportunity.”The environment is pretty good, the guys can come in and someone like Hamish, he feels comfortable when he comes in. And he’s able to be himself, which I think helps going forward in the field. You’re relaxed and if you feel welcome, then I guess it makes the transition easier out onto the field with your mates.”Bennett doesn’t want to put too much pressure on himself and instead just wants to enjoy his cricket, a shift in mindset that gave him a second wind after moving to Wellington.”I’d never given up on playing for New Zealand. I don’t think anyone does,” Bennett told the New Zealand Cricket website. “You just have to keep plugging away. For me, I just enjoy playing cricket. I don’t live and die by New Zealand selections, but I’m still trying to be the best cricketer I can be.”Now, at 32, Bennett will have another crack at Kohli at Eden Park again, and a chance to find a second wind in his chequered international career.

A difficult pitch made for a low-scoring match and the Sydney Sixers spinners combined for a matchwinning contribution

Alex Malcolm29-Dec-2018Sydney Sixers have not solved their top-order batting woes, but they might not need to if they can defend totals as well as they did to beat the Melbourne Renegades on a poor surface at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.Defending 7 for 132, the Renegades looked in control after the Powerplay on the back an enterprising innings from debutant Mackenzie Harvey. But the Sixers spin duo of Steve O’Keefe and first-gamer debutant Ben Manenti weaved a web around the Renegades middle order and they failed to reach 100, losing their first game of the season. Manenti was Player of the Match for his 2 for 13 while Tom Curran finished with 3 for 18 in a brilliant all-round display.Offspinner Ben Manenti had a wonderful debut•Getty Images

Earlier, the Sixers overcame their worst batting Powerplay of the tournament to muster a winning score. Jordan Silk played another important innings. His 30 off 33 balls was boundary-less but priceless for the visitors. Josh Philippe and Curran played important cameos against a Renegades attack that bowled well on difficult batting surface.Kane Richardson, Jack Wildermuth and Usman Shinwari took six wickets and bowled 34 dots in 12 overs between them.Not so Marvel-lous pitchThe Docklands (Marvel Stadium) pitch has always been the most inconsistent in the BBL. Very often teams will bat second to get a look at the surface first up. Teams batting first average 155 at the venue compared to 161 across the BBL and teams have won 17 times chasing out of 30 matches. But this season it has been a lot worse. In two games, the first innings scores have been 103 and 7 for 132 and teams have no idea what a winning score is. Traditionally spin has been a big weapon at Docklands but pace has been the most effective this year. In this match, the players made particular mention of how much moisture was under this surface, and how the ball skidded from back of a length but held up when pitched fuller. It made batting incredibly difficult for both sides.Sixers Powerplay strugglesThe definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Sydney Sixers kept an unchanged top order for the fourth straight game and produced their worst batting Powerplay of the tournament of 3 for 25, to beat the 3 for 39 against the Scorchers, 3 for 33 against the Thunder, and 2 for 42 against the Stars, which later became 6 for 70. Jack Edwards played all around a straight ball from Shinwari then Daniel Hughes and Joe Denly both holed out. The surface was difficult but they have struggled to find a way to manufacture scores throughout the four games. Philippe was only top six player to strike at more than 100. He scored 20 off 13 to help the Sixers accelerate in the second half of the innings. He made three fifties in six games opening the batting in the JLT Cup (50-over competition) for Western Australia, striking at 120, yet he has been sitting at No.6 for four games in this BBL.Smooth as silkSilk was left to salvage something from the innings for the third time in four games. He has had to play patiently and rotate the strike in all three of those rescue missions. He didn’t strike a single boundary in his 30 off 33 but it was an incredibly valuable innings on a difficult surface. He got great support from Philippe and Curran, who cracked two boundaries in his 23 not out from 15 balls to ensure the Renegades needed to chase more than a run-a-ball.Spin squeezeThe Renegades pacemen dominated in their bowling innings and the Sixers loaded up with pace in their bowling Powerplay, instead of using O’Keefe. They looked to have erred. Debutant Harvey struck the ball powerfully with four fours and a six as the Renegades made 2 for 38 in the Powerplay to stay ahead of the required run-rate. But O’Keefe and debutant offspinner Manenti bowled seven of the next eight overs and squeezed the life out of the Renegades chase. They lost 4 for 33 in 48 balls with only one boundary. Manenti took 2 for 13 from his four overs, including the key wicket of Harvey cleaned bowled for 30, while O’Keefe finished with 2 for 19. The Renegades needed 62 from the last six overs and fell well short. The Sixers’ catching was exceptional to back up the miserly bowling.

Jon Lewis and Gary Palmer have been added to the England Lions coaching team ahead of their trip to Australia

George Dobell02-Nov-2017Jon Lewis and Gary Palmer have been added to the England Lions coaching team ahead of their trip to Australia.Lewis, who played one Test and 15 limited-overs matches for England, will replace Chris Silverwood as bowling coach on the tour and will continue to fulfil the role when the squad travels to the Caribbean in the new year. Silverwood has recently been announced as England’s new bowling coach.Lewis is currently bowling coach at Sussex and has previous experience working with England’s Young Lions programme. He will also have a spell working with Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash once the Australian leg of the Lions tour has finished in mid-December. He will report back to Sussex, who have expressed their enthusiasm for the role, on March 1.”I am extremely excited about the prospect of coaching the England Lions and the Perth Scorchers,” Lewis said. “I will be working with two world-class head coaches in Andy Flower and Justin Langer, and assisting with the coaching of some of the most talented cricketers in the world.”I have no doubt that the opportunity of working at this top level will provide diverse, worldwide experiences that will be invaluable to bring back to Sussex for the 2018 season.”The appointment of Palmer is perhaps more intriguing. ESPNcricinfo revealed two-and-a-half years ago that he had played a significant role in the improved form of Alastair Cook, and, since then, he had continued to carve out a niche as a freelance batting consultant.There have been times when his philosophy – which is, in short, that technique is an under-developed area in modern cricket and that the old adage about it being a ‘sideways-on game’ is nonsense – has appeared to be at odds with the beliefs of some of those who run things at Loughborough, who seem to take a more laissez-faire attitude towards the development of individual approaches to the game. It is also noticeable that those Palmer works with – and Cook continues to see him regularly – have a more open stance than the traditional coaching manual might recommend. Palmer believes this allows batsmen to play straighter.His client list – which he keeps secret – includes some very well-known names in international cricket. They generally like to keep his involvement quiet in case it offends, threatens or annoys those in official positions with teams. His involvement with the Lions might well be considered an extended trial under the watchful eye of head coach, Andy Flower.Both Lewis and Palmer will join up with the Lions squad for a training camp at Loughborough next week before flying to Australia on November 13. The Australian leg of the tour – or extended training camp as it is essentially – ends on December 16.”Gary has done some work with a couple of senior England players, and we’ve invited him to work with the Lions under our ECB batting lead Graham Thorpe on some specific areas of batting around balance and timing,” Flower said.”We’re very happy for Chris Silverwood, who has added significantly to our programme in the past, most recently in Sri Lanka last winter, in addition to the success he has had as a head coach with Essex.”It left us with a vacancy but we are delighted to have an outstanding replacement in Jon Lewis – and we are very grateful to Keith Greenfield and Rob Andrew at Sussex for being so flexible and supportive in moving so quickly to allow Jon to join us now.”Jon has worked with the Young Lions programme in the past, and in addition to his pedigree as an international bowler, he travelled to Australia with the Lions himself back in 2006, which was my first with the programme as an assistant to Peter Moores.”

In 90 minutes of outlandish clean-striking, Glenn Maxwell marked a monumental return to form, sent Sri Lanka into freefall, and stole their T20 world record from under their noses

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Sep-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:01

Australia set new T20 record score

In 90 minutes of outlandish clean-striking, Glenn Maxwell marked a monumental return to form, sent Sri Lanka into freefall, and stole their T20I world record from under their noses.The scorecard says he hit nine sixes in his 65-ball 145 not out, but it felt like he had hit so many more. It says there were 14 fours in this Maxwell mauling, but so quickly did they come, one after the other, that who is to tell when one boundary ended and another began? It was a blur of bludgeoned sweeps, of wallops down the ground and, occasionally, of enterprising strokes behind the wicket. Australia made 263 for 3. This is the joint-highest T20 score, in addition to being the biggest score in T20 internationals, beating the 260 Sri Lanka had hit against Kenya.Maxwell had opened the innings in place of the injured Aaron Finch, and he quickly set about knocking Sri Lanka’s bowlers out of shape. So battered were they by the end of the Powerplay, in which Australia had cracked 73 for 1, that they soon became helplessly complicit in Maxwell’s plunder. Thigh-high full tosses were sent down with masochistic abandon. Errors bred further errors in the outfield. In the 18th over, a catch was dropped, though that was off Travis Head, who was the second-highest scorer with 45 off 18 balls. Each of Sri Lanka’s four main bowlers conceded at least 12.75 per over.

Senanayake fined for breaching code of conduct

Sri Lanka offspinner Sachithra Senanayake has been fined for breaching the ICC’s Code of Conduct during his team’s 85-run loss in the first T20 international against Australia in Pallekele.
Senanayake, who took 1 for 49, was found to have been in violation of Article 2.1.7, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his dismissal during an international match”.
Senanayake’s incident concerned his send-off for David Warner after bowling him in the fifth over of the match. Senanayake was docked 30% of his match fee.
Since Senanayake admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by Javagal Srinath, the match referee, there was no need for a formal hearing.

The hosts’ batting went much better, though they were never really in the hunt. The top three fell cheaply, but Dinesh Chandimal hit 58 off 43 and Chamara Kapugedera 43 off 25. Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland took three wickets apiece, as Sri Lanka finished on 178 for 9 – 86 runs short of the 264-run target.The first over had cost Sri Lanka only three runs, and though Maxwell hit the innings’ first boundary – smoking an overpitched Suranga Lakmal delivery through cover – it was David Warner who doused the scene with petrol, and began the raging fire. Warner eyed up seamer Kasun Rajitha, playing his third international, and banged four consecutive fours in the third over, three of those coming on the off side. It was not long before Maxwell matched that aggression. The first six of the match was a reverse-sweep off Sachithra Senanayake. A four followed next ball, off the same shot.Neither Warner’s dismissal by Senanayake nor the end of the Powerplay made much difference to Maxwell’s approach. Decent balls – like Rajitha’s slower one on the stumps in the ninth over – were whacked disdainfully over long-on. Then when the bad balls came, like the full toss from Rajitha immediately after, Maxwell biffed them over the boundary as well.The first of those consecutive sixes off Rajitha brought Maxwell his half-century, off 27 balls. He took a further 22 to reach his hundred. Sri Lanka rifled through bowlers in this period, trying offspin, left-arm spin, seam, and whatever it is that Thisara Perera bowls. None of this could make so much as a dent in Maxwell’s confidence, which by now was magnetic. Thisara, in fact, came closest to getting him out, in the 13th over, though that wasn’t particularly close: Kapugedera, who caught Maxwell on the deep midwicket boundary, had trod on the rope and had to abandon the catch anyway as his momentum was taking him over the rope.Having reached his first T20 century, and second in international cricket (both have come against Sri Lanka), Maxwell set his sights on the records. His first six in triple figures was perhaps the best of the lot, as he sliced Lakmal beautifully over the deep-cover boundary, immediately after having hit a four to fine leg. Finch, running the drinks in this match, holds the individual T20 record of 156, and Maxwell was in pursuit. When he biffed three consecutive sixes over long-on, off Senanayake, he moved to 134, with 19 balls still remaining in the innings. Head, though, indulged in some brutality of his own, hitting three sixes and four fours in his innings. One of those sixes came over long-on, off Thisara Perera. It was that shot which gave Australia the team total record.Tillakaratne Dilshan has led outrageous chases before, but when he was bowled trying to clang a Mitchell Starc ball through the leg side in the first over, Sri Lanka’s already slim chances became even slimmer. Kusal Perera was out slashing Boland to third man, soon after. By the end of the Powerplay, Sri Lanka had mustered 56 for 3, but with the required rate almost 15, the chase just became about limiting the severity of the loss.Kusal Mendis made an attractive 22 replete with a pulled six off James Faulkner, and an imperious, lofted off-drive off Moises Henriques, but he was out in the eighth over. Chandimal pulled his team through those early overs, scoring heavily with his horizontal bat shots, the flat-batted four down the ground off Boland in the fourth over the most memorable among them.Chandimal and Kapugedera put on Sri Lanka’s best partnership, taking a particular liking to the spinners as they made 44 from 29 balls. But they both holed out soon enough. Sri Lanka hit 100 runs in boundaries. Maxwell, who had been dropped from the squad entirely for the ODIs, struck 110 in boundaries by himself.

A career-best one-day knock of 90 from Leicestershire opener Angus Robson, the highest of the match, could not stop Yorkshire completing a 31-run victory over their visitors in the Royal London Cup clash at Headingley

ECB/PA03-Aug-2015
ScorecardAlex Lees’ 75 helped Yorkshire to a total they were able to defend•Getty Images

A career-best one-day knock of 90 from Leicestershire opener Angus Robson, the highest of the match, could not stop Yorkshire completing a 31-run victory over their visitors in the Royal London Cup clash at Headingley.Yorkshire’s fourth win in six matches strengthened their chances of finishing in a top-two place in the North Group table and gaining a home tie in the quarter-finals but defeat for Leicestershire left them with only one point and still searching for their first win.For a while it looked as if Leicestershire were capable of chasing down a target of 278 as both Mark Cosgrove and Aadil Ali gave solid support to the fluent Robson.But when allrounder Will Rhodes claimed the wickets of Robson and Niall O’Brien in the space of six balls, Leicestershire were left on 167 for 5 after 38 overs and the task was beyond them.A crowd of 4,021 saw Yorkshire make a promising start after being put in to bat with acting captain Alex Lees and Andy Hodd adding 80 together in confident manner before Hodd, attempting a quick single, was run out by Ned Eckersley’s direct hit at the bowler’s end from midwicket for 36.Lees reached his half-century from 76 balls with five fours after Glenn Maxwell had survived a difficult chance to Burgess at mid-on when only two. The Australian then struck Rob Sayer over mid-wicket for six but the miss was not too expensive because when he had sailed on to 28 from 24 balls he lofted the offspinner to Ali at long-on.Rhodes batted brightly alongside Lees, who eventually had his stumps knocked back by Rob Taylor for 75 from 110 deliveries with five boundaries. Jack Leaning then departed in the same over for a duck as Robson held on to a leading edge.When Rhodes was bowled by Ben Raine for 46, Yorkshire were 220 for 5 in 40 overs and Leicestershire bowled well enough to stop a surge of runs in the final stages of the innings, Clint McKay mopping up to finish with 3 for 47.Leicestershire made a measured start to their reply and Robson and Cosgrove had put on 49 by the tenth over when Matthew Fisher replaced Tim Bresnan and bowled Cosgrove for 23 with his second delivery.It became 87 for 2 as Eckersley was bowled leg stump by Maxwell but Ali and Robson kept their side in the hunt with a 72 stand in 15 overs. Robson survived a stinging low return catch to Maxwell’s left on 48 before moving to a 71-ball half-century.In attempting to increase the tempo, Ali took a big swing at Adil Rashid and sliced to Steve Patterson at short third man with Robson departing soon afterwards by driving Rhodes gently to Lees at mid-wicket, his 90 coming off 114 balls with eight fours.Michael Burgess, Raine and Taylor all hit big sixes as Leicestershire tried hard to regain some momentum but Yorkshire’s eight-man attack held together well and the end came with one ball remaining as Taylor holed out to Richard Pyrah off Patterson.

A round-up of Faysal Bank T-20 Cup matches played on December 1, 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMultan steamrolled Quetta by 10 wickets in their first Group A Faysal Bank T-20 Cup match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. After putting Quetta in, Multan’s fast bowlers, Abdur Rauf and Mohammad Irfan, struck thrice in the first three overs to reduce Quetta to 16 for 3. The situation got worse for Quetta with the introduction of spin in the sixth over as left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar struck with this second ball. Babar continued his stranglehold as he picked up two more wickets off consecutive balls in his second over and finished with incredible figures of 4-2-3-2. Irfan, who came back to bowl the seventeenth over, cleaned up the tail as Quetta were bowled out for 72. In response, it took Multan’s openers Zain Abbas and Sohaib Maqsood just 11 overs to overhaul the target.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBuoyed by opener Imran Farhat’s second T20 century, Lahore Eagles scored a comfortable 58-run win over Hyderabad. Farhat, who remained unbeaten on 100 off 59 balls, launched an attack with his opening partner Taufeeq Umar, who scored 65, to bring up the team’s 100 in the sixth over. The two batsmen put up 168 runs for the opening stand which set-up the base for the team’s 224-run total. Hyderabad remained on track till the halfway stage as opener Sharjeel Khan single-handedly fought on. Sharjeel remained unbeaten on 103, an innings laced with eight sixes and five boundaries, but didn’t receive support from the rest of the cast. For Lahore, Asif Raza and Junaid Zia were both economical and picked up two wickets apiece.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDefending champions Sialkot completed a commanding eight-wicket win over Islamabad in their first match. Islamabad, who chose to bat, struggled to force the pace and lost regular wickets from the start. Fast bowler Umaid Asif was the pick of the bowlers, picking up three wickets for 21 runs while Navel-ul-Hasan picked up two as Islamabad were restricted to 122. In response, Imran Nazir scored a quick half-century and was out after taking the team only 19 short of the target in the thirteenth over. Shoaib Malik and Haris Sohail, both stayed unbeaten on 21, and completed the chase without any further hiccup.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShahid Afridi led Karachi Dolphins to a 40-run win against Peshawar with a half-century that lifted the team from a slump in the middle to a strong total of 164. Karachi Dolphins lost their first wicket off the first ball, but Shahzaib Hasan attacked with a flurry of boundary hits to score a quick 33 off 14 balls. But three wickets went down for six runs slowing the Dolphins down. But Afridi held one end together and stayed on the crease till the nineteenth over to ensure the team got to a decent total. Peshawar stumbled early in the chase when they were reduced to 20 for 4 in the fifth over, but a 68-run stand between Iftikhar Ahmed and Akbar Badshah resurrected hopes of a fight back. However, once Afridi removed the half-centurion Iftikhar, Peshawar collapsed and were all out for 124.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsOpener Imranullah Aslam’s quick-fire 89 off 53 balls helped Bahawalpur beat Rawalpindi by 19 runs. Aslam attacked from the start by dispatching Yasir Arafat for five fours in the third over of the match. He went on to hit 12 boundaries and two sixes in total before falling in the nineteenth over and helped them post 173. Rawalpindi faltered at the start as they lost opener Awais Zia off the fourth ball for a duck. Naved Malik and Babar Naeem kept them in the hunt, with Malik scoring 51 from 22 balls, with nine fours and a six. But his dismissal triggered a middle-order collapse and Rawalpindi managed 154. Siddiq was the pick of the Bahawalpur bowlers finishing with figures of 3 for 22.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSoon after being appointed the captain, Mohammad Hafeez scored a half-century to help Lahore Lions beat Karachi Zebras by seven wickets. Chasing 142, the strong Lions team was not put under any pressure at any stage and even though they lost their openers with the score on 60, Hafeez and Umar Akmal used their experience and remained in control. The two batsmen shared a 67-run stand which came off 47 balls. Hafeez was out after scoring 53, but Umar continued to attack and helped complete the chase with 11 balls to spare. Zebras, after chosing to bat, made a solid start and were placed at 98 for 2 after Fahad Iqbal’s half-century. But three wickets went down for eight runs, slowing the the team down in the process. Aizaz Cheema was the most successful bowler with 2 for 21.