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Middlesex promotion push takes a hit as Gloucestershire No. 3 notches maiden century

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay01-Aug-2025Gloucestershire 404 for 9 dec (Phillips 136, Hammond 71, Bancroft 58) drew with Middlesex 445 (Williamson 153, Hollman 60, De Caires 58, Du Plooy 57)Gloucestershire’s Joe Phillips hit his maiden first class century as the rain-ruined Rothesay County Championship Division Two match with Middlesex ended in an inevitable draw.After the third day washout, a still wet outfield prevented any play until 1.25pm, with a minimum of 68 overs left in the game. Resuming their first innings on 54 for 1, a deficit of 391, Gloucestershire extended it to 400 for 9 by stumps, 21-year-old Cornishman Phillips making 136 from 182 balls, with 19 fours.Miles Hammond contributed an attractive 71 and Cameron Bancroft 58. But there had been too little time on a placid pitch for the teams to conjure a decisive outcome and both had to settle for 15 points.Following an early lunch at 12.45pm, Phillips and skipper Bancroft played confidently on a pitch still proving surprisingly straightforward to bat on considering it was shaved at both ends.Unbeaten on 11 at the start, Phillips had a scare on 34 when advancing down the pitch to offspinner Josh De Caires and edging between wicketkeeper and first slip for four. It was a rare moment of anxiety for Gloucestershire as Bancroft was first to his half-century, off 104 balls, with nine fours.The experienced Aussie was looking in prime form and it was a surprise when, with the total advanced to 126, he was bowled off a bottom edge aiming to pull a boundary off left-arm seamer Noah Cornwell.By then Phillips was treating the sparse crowd to a range of sweetly-timed strokes off front and back foot, a single to deep cover off Luke Hollman’s legspin taking him to fifty off 92 deliveries, with five fours. Two more boundaries followed from fierce pull shots in the same Cornwell over.Ollie Price was soon looking equally at home on the two-tone coloured surface. A glorious square drive for four off Ryan Higgins took Truro-born Phillips past his previous best first-class score of 80, made on the same ground against Worcestershire in 2023.By tea, he had moved to 96 and, with Price unbeaten on 33, Gloucestershire were 209 for 2, still trailing by 236. A looping full toss from Sam Robson gave Phillips the chance to strike the boundary that brought up his century off 145 balls. It was his 15th four and he raised a clenched fist in the air to celebrate.Price departed soon afterwards for 34, caught behind top-edging a sweep off Robson’s leg-breaks. The dismissal meant a first bowling point for Middlesex on a day their promotion hopes suffered a damaging blow with Glamorgan’s victory over Lancashire.Phillips and Hammond took Gloucestershire to 250 and a batting point. With more bonus points up for grabs, neither team wanted to shake hands on the draw.Using his feet well to attack the spinners, Phillips continued on his merry way, while Hammond also went on the attack at every opportunity. Their entertaining stand of 66 in 12.1 overs ended when Phillips holed out to long-on off Higgins.Cheltenham-born Hammond, who often flourishes at the Festival, advanced to smack a straight six off De Caires as Gloucestershire progressed to a second batting point, losing James Bracey cheaply, caught at mid-on off De Caires with the total on 299.Hollman earned Middlesex a second bowling point when having Graeme van Buuren caught at slip. But Hammond moved to a fluent half-century off 63 balls before Zaman Akhter was seventh man out, caught at backward square leg sweeping a ball from Hollman with eight overs remaining.A Hammond six off Hollman took Gloucestershire to a third batting point before he fell aiming to clear long-on off Higgins. With three overs remaining, Middlesex took the second new ball and Cornwell had Matt Taylor caught behind to give his side maximum bowling points.There was still time for a Josh Shaw six off Higgins as he and Todd Murphy helped the hosts reach 400 in the very last over. Both teams could feel happy at the end of a thoroughly entertaining final hour.

Heat moved to 14 points with the win and are now assured of a finals berth

AAP07-Jan-2024
Brisbane Heat have beaten Hobart Hurricanes by one run to remain undefeated and wrap up a BBL finals spot in a rain-interrupted low-scoring thriller at the Gabba.The Hurricanes needed 13 runs from the final over and three off the final delivery, but skipper Nathan Ellis could manage just a single off the last ball as Pat Dooley was run out.The Hurricanes restricted the Heat to 132 for 7 but were soon 22 for 4 in reply. Rain forced the players off after 4.4 overs and the target was revised to 118 from 16 overs.Heat late-over specialist Spencer Johnson (2-21 off three overs) took two wickets in the penultimate over, including the dangerous Tim David (27 off 21).Hurricanes allrounder Nikhil Chaudhary (55 off 38) walloped a six and four from the opening two deliveries of the final over before falling to Heat seamer Paul Walter, who kept a cool head when the pressure was on.The Heat had the perfect start with the ball.Michael Neser had Caleb Jewell (4) caught at third man in his first over. Player of the Match Xavier Bartlett (3-30) then dismissed Macalister Wright and Sam Hain for ducks with consecutive deliveries with both batters nicking superbly directed away cutters.Corey Anderson (two) was cleaned up by a rampant Bartlett and the Hurricanes were on the ropes.They finished on 116 for 9 after David and Chaudhary almost got them home.Earlier Heat skipper Colin Munro top scored with 56 from 47 deliveries as Ellis rotated his bowlers superbly to prevent the hosts from getting away.After Ellis had won the bat flip, the Hurricanes’ seamers contained the Heat well in the early overs on a Gabba pitch that had plenty of zip in it.Riley Meredith, Ellis (2-23 off four) and England international Chris Jordan (3-19 off four) were all impressive. Jordan was in the zone and cleaned up Matt Renshaw (5) with a fast and straight ripper.Munro took a while to find his timing but when he did it was worth the wait with the New Zealander taking 20 runs from spinner Chaudhary’s second over, including two towering leg-side sixes.The Heat moved to 14 points with the win and are now assured of a finals berth. The Hurricanes are fifth on six points, two points behind fourth-placed Melbourne Stars who have played one more game.

“Everyone’s forgotten I am a bowler,” says an elated Naseem after his pair of incredible strikes

Shashank Kishore07-Sep-2022Babar Azam wasn’t even born when Javed Miandad hit last-ball six in Sharjah off Chetan Sharma to clinch the Austral-Asia Cup for Pakistan. Yet, when Naseem Shah deposited Afghanistan fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi for two towering sixes down the ground to clinch a one-wicket thriller to put Pakistan in the Asia Cup final, he was reminded of Miandad’s magic from 36 years ago.”At the back of the mind, I thought this is T20 cricket, and I have seen Naseem bat like this, so I had a little bit of belief,” Babar said at the post-match presentation. “This reminded me of Javed Miandad’s six in Sharjah.”Related

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Ravi Shastri, who was doing the post-match honours, broke into a laugh, saying, “I was there that day, thank you for reminding [me].” Shastri had bowled nine frugal overs in that game, before Miandad stole the show.A relieved Babar also admitted the mood was anything but calm as Pakistan kept losing wickets. Pakistan were 87 for 3 at one stage with victory well within their sight, before they lost 6 for 31. When Naseem walked in to bat at No. 10 – with, as he later said, No. 11 Mohammad Hasnain’s bat because his own bat was “not that good” – Pakistan needed 20 runs off 10 balls. And when they lost Asif Ali in the same over, the equation was an even more tense 12 off seven balls with one wicket left. Naseem, who made his T20I debut only 10 days ago, was yet to score a run in international T20s.At stake was a place in the final, but Naseem seemed quietly confident. Over the next few minutes, the entire dressing room would have barely believed what they saw, watching two sixes sail over the rope as they roared in jubilation. Naseem had a big smile, tears of joy even as he was flanked by his team-mates. Wasim Akram, who also played that famous game all those years ago, also couldn’t contain his excitement, embracing Naseem in a warm hug.Minutes later, Naseem, still visibly pumped up and excited at the turn of events, narrated what his mindset was as he had taken strike. “When I came in to bat, I had the belief I could hit sixes,” he said. “I practice this. I knew they would bowl yorkers. I just tried and I executed. I had spoken earlier itself that we need to have belief, we can hit. We train in the nets, so that belief was there. I felt my bat was not good, so I changed it (laughs).”Asif [Ali] was batting when I came in, the idea was to give him single but when he got out, I thought it was all on me. In such matches, when you lose the ninth wicket, no one expects you [to win it], but I had belief that I can. I practice hitting a lot. This will be a memorable game for me. Everyone’s forgotten I am a bowler!”Shadab Khan, who was named Player of the Match for his crucial 26-ball 36, wasn’t going to forget Naseem’s heroics in a hurry. “Those sixes will always be remembered,” he said. “Our management has promoted our bowlers to bat a bit, because you don’t know what situation will come in a game. Our bowlers also have calibre to finish games with the bat.”Babar spoke of the palpable tension and the ecstasy that followed. “To be honest, it was quite a tensed environment in the dressing room,” he said. “We couldn’t build partnerships like last few games, but the way Naseem finished it, you could see the (vibe) after that.”A vibe sparked by the fact that Pakistan will meet Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup come September 11.

Siraj ended with 3 for 27 that dented the Royals top order early

Alagappan Muthu22-Apr-2021
A phenomenal century from Devdutt Padikkal ensured the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fourth successive victory in IPL 2021 as they pulverised the Rajasthan Royals with 10 wickets and 21 balls to spare.Sanju Samson’s team did well to post 177 after he and the rest of his top order came undone against some accurate seam bowling. But it just wasn’t enough.Power outage in the powerplay

The Royals have the worst performing opening partnership in IPL 2021 (ave 14.25). And they came under serious pressure tonight.Mohammed Siraj clean bowled Jos Buttler, and impressive as that was, his skill and more importantly the experience he has gained travelling with the Indian team, and even being their lead bowler at times, was on better display when he introduced himself to David Miller with a scorching yorker. The batter never saw it coming and, with some help from the DRS, he was walking back lbw.The Royal Challengers’ seamers did well to attack the stumps in the powerplay, keeping their length full, but not drivable because from there, the hints of movement and extra bounce they generated made it severely hard to score runs.Dube and Tewatia step up

Pushing on from a platform of 32 for 3 in six overs is hard in the best of times. So picture how it must have been for Shivam Dube. He is in the middle of a slump and as much as he has the reputation of a big-hitter, he has never lived up to it in the IPL.Until now.Against his former team, he showed composure and good shot selection, both of which are crucial to revive a failing innings. Take his decision to attack Yuzvendra Chahal in the ninth over. The ball was spinning into his hitting arc, and he knew he could clear Wankhede’s boundaries. He has done it so many times in domestic cricket. So, 6, dot, 6.Dube’s 46 off 32 sowed the seeds of resistance and Rahul Tewatia took over from there. His unorthodox strokeplay – scoops over fine leg, lashes over third man – obvious power and sheer determination produced 40 runs in 23 balls and took the Royals to 177 for 9.RCB roll on and on and on

“It’s very exciting for me as a batsman,” Kohli said at the prospect of playing in Mumbai. It looks like his opening partner also shared his enthusiasm.After struggling on the slow, spinning tracks of Chennai, Padikkal produced a joyous display of hitting right through the line of the ball. A cut for four off Chris Morris. A straight drive for six off Mustafizur Rahman. A slog for six off Chetan Sakariya. Each of those shots brought jaws to the floor and the Royals to their knees.Padikkal reached his fifty off only 27 balls and showed no signs of stopping. Towards the end, he seemed to be playing the game only against himself. “Can I clear this boundary? Oh yeah. Easy. How bout we practice the reverse sweep now? Ooooh, look at that. It’s already gone for four”. His hundred came in the 17th over, off his 51st delivery, which he drilled through extra cover and roared in primal delight.Riding in Padikkal’s tremendous slipstream, Kohli eased to a fifty of his own and completed 6000 runs in the IPL.

A scintillating onslaught from the weather overnight proved yet again to be the definitive performance in the Rawalpindi Test

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando14-Dec-2019Stumps A scintillating onslaught from the weather overnight proved yet again to be the definitive performance in the Rawalpindi Test, which did not see a single ball bowled on day four before play was called off at noon. Frigid showers have been in outstanding form right through this Test, and the force with which they imposed themselves on a hapless outfield ensured that the turf was too sodden for play.The covers also showed signs of having endured a battering, with vast pools of water laying atop them in the morning. The groundstaff cleared some of the water off them over the course of several hours, but this merely made an inevitable result look a little closer than it was. There was just no beating the weather in this mood.

The allrounder said the team had battled collectively to find the mental focus required to succeed with so much going on around Australian cricket

Daniel Brettig10-Nov-2018Marcus Stoinis, the Australia allrounder, has revealed the extent to which the national team has struggled to deal with the “noise” around them created by the aftermath of the Newlands scandal, the release of Cricket Australia’s cultural review and the subsequent round of changes to the governing body, including the loss of the coach, CEO, chairman and senior executives.The Australians broke a seven-match losing streak at Adelaide Oval on Friday night with a narrow defeat of South Africa, as Stoinis and the bowlers bailed out a batting line-up that again struggled to produce a performance of international standard. Late-order runs from Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood dragged Australia to 231, before the pacemen defended that total grandly.Much had been hoped for from Stoinis in the ODI team, but he struggled badly in England earlier this year during Justin Langer’s first assignment as the new coach. Having taken three critical wickets in Adelaide, he said the team had battled collectively to find the mental focus required to succeed with so much going on around them.”The amount of noise going on, people are drained,” Stoinis said. “We’re cooked right now and we just won. Maybe that is part of it, the mental drain. That is what we have got to work on, that is what we have got to get past. And this is a good step forward. You have got to learn. That is part of the art of playing international cricket is dealing with noise.”That’s what we’ve been working at. We work every day trying to hone our skills, and I personally think because there’s so much noise going on, cricket moves so fast, and you can’t possibly concentrate as well as you’d like to with all the noise.”So that’s part of the art of playing international cricket is we’ve got to start really internalising all that sort of stuff and focusing on what’s really important for us.”Having squared the series at one game apiece, there is a quick turnaround for both sides ahead of the decider in Hobart on Sunday. Stoinis’ indications about the physical and mental state of the home side suggested that some quick recovery work was going to be required to get them up and firing once more for the third ODI.”I’m bloody tired, we’re all bloody tired. All the bowlers are cooked,” Stoinis said. “It was a big effort, so really proud of everyone. At the end of the day, all the guys that are in that team fight so hard, want to be there so much, train so hard, think about cricket all day every day.”I know obviously we haven’t got the results that maybe the media and the Australian public would want. But these guys, we all fight, we all really want to be there, we all really want to win, and so the character of the individuals speaks for itself.”

The New Zealand batsman was the top-scorer in the domestic Super Smash T20 competition, and made his international debut in a T20I against South Africa earlier this year

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2017New Zealand batsman Glenn Phillips, who made his international debut in a T20I against South Africa earlier this year, is set to join Jamaica Tallawahs for CPL 2017.Auckland Cricket confirmed that 20-year-old Phillips will join Tallawahs as the franchise’s fifth overseas player, alongside Shakib Al Hasan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mohammad Sami and Imad Wasim.Phillips was the highest run-getter in New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition, the Super Smash, in the 2016-17 season with 369 runs in ten innings, at a strike rate of 143. He struck three fifties and a century in the tournament, becoming the first New Zealand player to hit centuries across first-class, List A and T20 formats in the same season.The performance earned him a call-up for the sole T20I on South Africa’s tour of New Zealand in February and he made his debut in Auckland.Tallawahs, the defending champions, have played two matches so far, with one win and a loss. Their assistance coach, Mark O’Donnell, who also coaches the Auckland Aces in New Zealand’s domestic set-up, said Phillips added value as a back-up wicketkeeper, too.”Glenn is valuable to any team he joins as he can turn a game on its head with his batting. He is also handy behind the stumps so to have him as a keeping option is also helpful for the Tallawahs.”

Zimbabwe left-arm fast bowler Brian Vitori’s bowling action has been found to be legal, following remedial work and a re-test performed at University of Pretoria on June 10

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2016Zimbabwe left-arm fast bowler Brian Vitori’s bowling action has been found to be legal, the ICC confirmed, following remedial work and a re-test performed at the University of Pretoria on June 10.The re-test revealed that the bend at Vitori’s elbow was within the permissible 15-degree limit for all his deliveries. He is now free to resume bowling in international cricket and at domestic tournaments worldwide.Vitori’s action had been reported after the third T20I against Bangladesh in Khulna on January 20, and he was subsequently suspended in February.Vitori, 26, has played four Tests, 19 ODIs and 11 T20Is for Zimbabwe after making his international debut in August 2011.

South Africa’s 52-run win in the first T20 has put Bangladesh in an unfamiliar situation of late – to level a series after a loss in the first game

The Preview by Mohammad Isam06-Jul-2015

Match facts

Tuesday, July 7
Start time 1.00pm local (0700 GMT)1:39

Isam: Bangladesh will look to improve their batting

Big picture

South Africa’s 52-run win in the first T20 could have left Bangladesh dispirited but there has been a good vibe among the home team in recent months because they have learned how to bounce back. What will irk them, though, is that this is the first time since November that they have lost the first game of a series.It was South Africa’s T20 captain Faf du Plessis who ensured victory after the visitors had a sluggish start. Rilee Rossouw also contributed at an important stage, adding an unbeaten 58 for the fifth wicket with du Plessis, who did not throw his wicket away despite occasionally struggling to time the ball.Bangladesh were hasty in their chase and Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan need to execute proper shots in the next game. They were first hustled by South Africa’s pace attack and later strangled by Aaron Phangiso and JP Duminy. The visitors will want more of the same in the second T20, in particular the verve shown by youngster Kagiso Rabada.Bangladesh will also hope their bowling attack can once again contain South Africa, and that their batsmen can find the right blend of discipline and aggression.

Form guide

Bangladesh LWLLL

South Africa WWLLL

Players to watch

Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny took the wickets of AB de Villiers and JP Duminy but did not finish his full quota of four overs. He had figures of 3-0-19-2 and will be expected to be accurate once again.Despite the hot and humid weather, South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada bowled with a lot of energy and generated more bounce than anyone else on this pitch.

Teams news

Legspinner Jubair Hossain, who was one of two players to go to training on Monday, could replace Sohag Gazi who went wicketless in his two overs.Bangladesh (possible): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Sabbir Rahman, 6 Nasir Hossain, 7 Litton Das, 8 Sohag Gazi/Jubair Hossain, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 10 Arafat Sunny, 11 Mustafizur RahmanThe visitors had left out Beuran Hendricks, Chris Morris and Eddie Leie for the first T20 and it is likely they will remain benched, unless South Africa have plans to hand the young legspinner Leie a T20 debut.South Africa (possible): 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 AB de Villiers, 3 Faf du Plessis (capt), 4 JP Duminy, 5 David Miller, 6 Rilee Rossouw, 7 David Wiese, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Aaron Phangiso

Pitch and conditions

The pitch for the first game was slow and had inconsistent bounce. The surface for the second T20 may have higher bounce and aid batting a little more.

Stats and trivia

• Shakib Al Hasan is now Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals, after he overtook Abdur Razzak’s 44 wickets.
• Having been bowled out for 78 in their 2011 World Cup game, Bangladesh have been dismissed for less than 100 by South Africa in two consecutive matches.
• AB de Villiers opened in the first match, only the second time he has done so for South Africa in T20s
  

  Quotes

  “We couldn’t take opportunities that we created in the first game, so I hope it changes in the next game.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the second T20I between India and England in Mumbai

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya21-Dec-2012

Match facts

December 22, 2012
Start time 1900 (1330 GMT)Alex Hales batted impressively in Pune•BCCI

Big Picture

One-off or two-match Twenty20 series are usually lacking in context, and that’s even more the case on this England tour which is taking place a couple of months after the premier, global T20 tournament has ended. But, for a side beaten in a home Test series for the first time in eight years, the positives have been few, and the limited-overs games offer an opportunity to push for more. There were encouraging signs for India in Pune; they fielded with intensity and Yuvraj Singh returned to his match-winning ways.Described as a side in transition in Tests, India looked much more at home in the shorter format as opposed to England, under a stand-in captain and a new-look team. Alex Hales stood out for England with his display of clean striking at the top of the order – he’s one of three Nottinghamshire players from the first T20, each of whom have been told by their county that they will not be allowed to the play in the IPL next season.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
India: WWWLW
England LLWLL

In the spotlight

Ajinkya Rahane has been made to wait for a Test debut but has been impressive in the shorter formats. He pulled off a couple of cleanly-struck straight sixes in the first game and looked good for more before he mistimed one to mid-on. Often talked up as a future member of the Indian Test top order, Rahane’s opportunities in the international arena have been very limited, just four so far this year.Samit Patel has had more chances but hasn’t had the best of years. He lost his place in the Test XI this series, though chipped in with a quick 24 in the first T20 international in Pune. He’s got another T20 game to finish 2012 on a brighter note.

Team news

Jonny Bairstow has left the squad and flown back to England for “family reasons”. Jade Dernbach was expensive in his three-over spell in Pune and England could consider giving Middlesex seamer James Harris a go in his place.England (possible): 1 Michael Lumb, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Luke Wright, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Samit Patel, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 James Tredwell, 9 Stuart Meaker, 10 Danny Briggs, 11 James Harris.Should India wish to make a change, they have Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the Uttar Pradesh seamer, or Abhimanyu Mithun, on the bench.India (possible): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Ajinkya Rahane 3, Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt and wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Parvinder Awana/Abhimanyu Mithun, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Ashok Dinda.

Stats and trivia

• India’s win over England in Pune was their second-best against a non-‘minnow’ team in terms of balls to spare; they had won with 15 balls to spare against Pakistan in the World Twenty20.
• Yuvraj Singh’s effort was the 16th instance of a player scoring 30 or more and picking up three or more wickets in the same game. He’s done it twice.

Quotes

“I felt each and every bowler, apart from Yuvraj, bowled at least one bad over in the game. But I’m overall very happy with the performance.”

“We got off to a great start. Alex Hales played tremendously well along with Luke Wright but in that middle period we failed to kick on and score. That positivity wasn’t there in our batting and we lacked about 15 or 20.”