Category Uncategorized

The left-arm spinner rarely fails to deliver and is shaping as a vital part of the plans for next year’s T20 World Cup

Deivarayan Muthu11-Nov-2019The ultra-short boundaries at Eden Park, known as the postage stamp, are mean to the bowlers. They can be even meaner when rain cuts a 20-over series decider into 11 overs. After England’s bowlers suffer at the hands of Martin Guptill and Colin Munro, Eoin Morgan launches the visitors’ chase with a hat-trick of boundaries. Sam Curran then goes one better, clubbing Scott Kuggeleijn for four boundaries in a row. Jonny Bairstow, too, joins the carnage as England rack up 52 in just three overs. Bairstow has now nicked off for 47, but England are fairly well-placed at 100 for 4 in seven overs.Captain Tim Southee turns to Mitchell Santner in search of a wicket. The left-arm spinner delivers a double blow, but then the match goes into another Super Over and we all know how that unfolds. However, Santner’s strikes and composure under pressure showed why he’s New Zealand’s MVP heading into the T20 World Cup across the Tasman Sea next year. Once he saw Sam Curran advance down the track, he speared a back-of-a-length slider well past the tramline and had the batsman stumped off an off-side wide for 24 off 11 balls. Wicketkeeper Tim Seifert, who was mic’d up, suggested that Santner probably knew that the batsman was coming at him.Mitchell Santner celebrates a wicket•AFP

Santner then made a rare error, looping a non-turning half-volley, which Lewis Gregory muscled over long-on for six. But he wasn’t flustered and bravely floated the next one up at 85kph, and got it to turn away, daring Gregory to manufacture pace for himself. Gregory swung hard, but Santner’s clever change-up defeated him as he could only scoop it as far as extra-cover. He conceded only singles off the next four balls to finish an excellent 11-run over. Earlier, in his first over, the fourth of the chase, Santner had given away only nine runs. In daunting defence against a power-packed line-up on flat track, Santner came away with the two most economical overs. What might have been had Santner been handed another over?While Santner doesn’t quite demand the attention that Sunil Narine or wristspinners do these days, there’s no denying his class and control. It was on bright display during the 50-over World Cup in the UK earlier this year and also during this T20I series against England. Santner ended the series as the top wicket-taker with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.83 and strike rate of 9.8. Ish Sodhi and Adil Rashid, the purveyors of the more glamorous variety of spin – wristspin – managed only three wickets each while proving more expensive. Sodhi went at 11.73 an over while Rashid fared somewhat better, conceding at 9.54.Meanwhile, left-arm seamer Sam Curran, who had the benefit of bowling as many overs as Santner did (18), picked up six wickets at an economy rate of 8.50. It’s no secret these days that Santner bowls one over in the powerplay and then works his way through the middle overs. Yet, batsmen haven’t been able to line him up as he hits the hard length in the early exchanges and then, when the batsman is desperately searching for the big hits, Santner slows up his pace. He also thrives by shifting his lines wide of off, challenging the batsmen to fetch the ball and then slog it. More than 80% of Santner’s success this series is down to hanging the ball up outside off or even wider. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, he has bowled 62 balls around that line, grabbing nine wickets and conceding 81 runs.Santner’s wiles, in particular, were key to New Zealand pinning England down at the Westpac Stadium in the second T20I. Chris Jordan had shellacked Sodhi for four successive sixes and then cracked Lockie Ferguson over mid-off for four, threatening a late jailbreak. England were needing 49 off 30 balls when Southee tossed the ball over to his main man Santner. After his first ball was sent over extra-cover for four, Santner responded strongly by having Jordan holing out with a nifty drop in pace. Game over for England.”Chris Jordan was hitting it pretty well there at the end,” Santner said at the post-match press conference. “When you bowl slow as a spinner, I guess you’ve quite a fine margin – you can be swept square or pulled square. You try to hit a couple in the [block]hole and mix it up. You try not to be too predictable and it was nice to get that wicket and go from there.”Speaking to Radio Sport, Santner said that the wickets of big-hitters like Morgan and Jordan gave him extra pleasure. “They’re one of the best T20 sides at the moment and the way they like to play T20 cricket is to come pretty hard and that’s what they do whether you’re taking wickets or not. It’s one of things that even if you get a wicket, you’ve got to be on top of your game because the English can come hard and put you under pressure. And the best way to stall momentum is to take wickets throughout.”All told, Santner has bagged 20 T20I wickets in 2019 – the most among bowlers from Full Member nations in the shortest format. This time last year, Santner was recovering from a knee surgery, wondering if he could prove his fitness in time for the World Cup. He, ultimately, made it to the UK and almost helped New Zealand win the tournament. Then, he almost helped New Zealand win the T20I series against England. If he keeps up his form, Santner could prove more effective on the larger grounds in Australia by this time next year and could (actually) help New Zealand win a World Cup.

Competition is open to girls between the ages of 7 and 11 in England and Wales

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2019Ahead of a significant international summer for the England women’s team – including a home Ashes series – ECB is teaming up with the nine first-class counties hosting international women’s cricket this year to launch the #HeathersPride competition on International Women’s Day.Women’s and girls’ cricket in England and Wales continues to grow and to celebrate that, this competition, fronted by England captain Heather Knight, will give 11 girls across the country a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join her and the England players for a training session ahead of the Ashes.The competition is open to girls between the ages of 7 and 11 across the country. To find the 11 winners, the nine first-class counties in question will each select one worthy winner from their county who explains to them why she deserves the chance to be a member of #HeathersPride.The remaining two winners will be selected from across England and Wales by Knight herself, as ‘Captain’s Picks’.Entries will be made via social media (using #HeathersPride) or via email. Those applying through their counties should see their respective county websites for further details. If you do not have a connection with one of the nine venues hosting international women’s cricket this summer, you can apply to be a Captain’s Pick by emailing [email protected] with subject #HeathersPride.Entries for the competition will close on May 1.Speaking about the competition, Knight said: “International Women’s Day is a great moment to reflect on the progress of women’s and girls’ cricket. We’ve made so much progress over the last few years and we want to keep moving forward. At the very top, we’re pushing towards more depth and having more professional players, while it’s amazing that more and more girls are playing the game through initiatives like All Stars.Nat Sciver celebrates the World Cup win at Lord’s with her team-mates•Getty Images

“Chance to Shine also celebrated introducing cricket to its two-millionth girl this week. It’s exciting to think of how many girls are now choosing cricket. Some of the best moments from our win in the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup was seeing young girls imitate us on the sidelines and hopefully many more will be inspired by this competition to become part of #HeathersPride. I can’t wait to see all the winners in the summer!”Clare Connor, who was appointed managing director of women’s cricket at ECB, in January 2019, added, “Our strategy for 2020-24 is all about inspiring future generations and this is a great initiative from Heather and the counties to really bring that to life by giving 11 lucky girls the chance to train with their heroes for the day.”Whilst International Women’s Day is an appropriate day to celebrate the progress made so far it’s also important to recognise the challenges we still face in our ultimate ambition of making cricket a gender balanced sport. The Inspiring Generations strategy outlines an ambition to invest £50m into women’s and girls’ cricket over the four-year period and this level of investment will help us continue to both increase the number of women and girls playing recreationally, as well as grow the profile of the elite women’s game.”Heather’s and the team’s victory at the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup created a huge opportunity for us and now we must take that to the next level through this strategy. As all of that exciting work takes shape, I’m looking forward to seeing the training session with the 11 winners of Heather’s Pride and the England women’s team this summer.”This week has also seen the independent national cricket charity, Chance to Shine, celebrate the two-millionth girl signing up to play cricket as part of its development programme: nine-year-old Keira from Staffordshire. The charity used this opportunity to announce new funding for a secondary school’s girls’ programme, which will aim to reach over 14,000 girls across the country teaching them key leadership skills through the game of cricket.To enter the #HeathersPride competition please email [email protected] or visit the website of your respective County. The nine venues hosting international women’s cricket this summer and taking part in the competition are:* Derbyshire
* Essex
* Gloucestershire
* Kent
* Leicestershire
* Northamptonshire
* Somerset
* Sussex
* Worcestershire

All three ODIs will take place in Dambulla and will count for the ICC Women’s Championship. The T20 series will shift the action to Colombo for the three matches

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2018The Sri Lanka women’s team will host their Pakistan counterparts in three ODIs and three T20Is from March 20 to 31, Sri Lanka Cricket has announced.The tour will be Sri Lanka’s first bilateral series since their drubbing in the West Indies last October when they were whitewashed across three ODIs and T20Is. It will also be their first match against Pakistan since the World Cup in England last year.That match saw Sri Lanka come out on top in a 15-run thrilling win to give them their only win of the tournament, a result that also saw Pakistan condemned to a 14th straight defeat in World Cups.Pakistan will be keen to reverse that performance and as such the upcoming series is likely to be a close-fought affair. For Sri Lanka, meanwhile, it will be a chance for the women’s team to get back to winning in the midst of renewed focus on the women’s game by SLC.All three ODIs will take place in Dambulla on March 20, 22, and 24, and will count for the ICC Women’s Championship. The T20 series will shift the action to Colombo with the first match taking place at the SSC on the 28th, the second at the NCC on 30th, and the final game back at the SSC on the 31st.All eight teams have played three ODIs each in the 2017-21 cycle of the Women’s Championship. Sri Lanka are placed at the bottom – the only team without a win yet – while Pakistan are sixth with one win to their name.

Lower-order batsmen Jimmy Neesham and Neil Wagner scored 74 runs in 7.4 overs together to steer Otago to a close three-wicket victory against Auckland

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2012
ScorecardLower-order batsmen Jimmy Neesham and Neil Wagner scored 74 runs in 7.4 overs to steer Otago to a three-wicket victory against Auckland. Despite Nathan McCullum’s 77, Otago were reduced to 169 for 7 in their chase of 218, after Chris Martin and Mitchell Mclenaghan took three wickets each. However, Neesham struck some heavy blows and took his side to the target. A 57-run first-innings lead helped Otago get an achievable target to chase, as Colin Munro’s century had helped Auckland to a strong second-innings total of 274.Auckland, batting first, succumbed to seamer Ian Butler on the first day, and they couldn’t overcome the disadvantage caused due to this throughout the rest of the match. Munro scored 59, but besides him and Lou Vincent, no one provided resistance to Butler as Auckland were bowled out for 196 in the 52nd over. Otago finished the day at 86 for 0, firmly in control of the contest.But this strong foundation of a 103-run opening stand gave way to a lower-order collapse as 25-year old seamer Dean Bartlett took five wickets to bowl them out for 253. At 240 for 4, they lost their last six wickets for 13 runs. Opener Aaron Redmond was the top-scorer with 98, and his opening partner Hamish Rutherford scored 70, but of the following batsmen there were six who scored in single digits, and only one of them scored more than 17 – middle-order batsman Sam Wells. Well’s was the fifth wicket to fall, and it led to the collapse.Auckland’s comeback was undone by Butler again. He dismissed the openers, to contribute to their disarray at 96 for 5. But Munro and Craig Cachopa steadied the innings by sharing a 96-run stand. After Butler removed Cachopa and Kyle Mills to leave them at 198 for 7, Munro rallied with No. 9 Bruce Martin to push their side to 274. Munro’s 118 off 124 deliveries featured six hits for sixes.Martin and McLenaghan consolidated on the platform provided by his knock, and Otago’s top order was rocked early. Redmond and McCullum, and later McCullum and Wells kept them in the hunt for the target. But this time, Wells’ dismissal in the 53rd over did not lead to another collapse, as Otago fought it out to win by three wickets.

Thami Tsolekile, the Lions wicketkeeper, will replace Mark Boucher in South Africa’s squad for the Test series in England

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2012Thami Tsolekile, the Lions wicketkeeper, will replace Mark Boucher in South Africa’s squad for the Test series in England. Tsolekile, however, is unlikely to play the first Test from July 19, with South Africa coach Gary Kirsten saying AB de Villiers will keep wicket at The Oval.”Thami has done very well [for] both the Lions and South Africa A for a couple of seasons, culminating in his South African record [of] eight catches in an innings this past week,” Andrew Hudson, Cricket South Africa’s convener of selectors, said. “With AB de Villiers also able to fill the role of wicketkeeper in the Test series it gives the tour selectors options in this important position.”Tsolekile’s inclusion was necessary because of Boucher’s retirement from cricket, following a severe eye injury sustained during the tour match against Somerset in Taunton. Boucher was struck by a bail and had to undergo surgery for a lacerated eyeball.Tsolekile, 31, played three Tests for South Africa in 2004, when Boucher was left out of the team. He scored only 47 runs in five innings and was dropped when Boucher made a comeback. Tsolekile has vast domestic experience, having played 132 first-class matches over a 13-year career that began in 1999. He has been second in line to the national team for years but did not get an opportunity because of Boucher’s permanence in South Africa’s plans.Tsolekile was given a central contract in February, the first time CSA had contracted a second wicketkeeper in 13 years since contracts were first awarded in 1998.During a recent game between South Africa A and Sri Lanka A in Durban, Tsolekile took eight catches in the first innings, a South African record.

Bangladesh produced most of the unexpected passages in the game. But when it came to the critical moments which decided the match, Pakistan proved superior

The Report by Abhishek Purohit11-Mar-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Hafeez followed up his 89 with two wickets, off consecutive balls, in the second innings•Associated Press

Pakistan built, nearly self-destructed and counterattacked with the bat. Bangladesh built, nearly self-destructed and counterattacked with the bat. Pakistan’s base was strong enough to weather the near-self-destruction. Their counterattack proved sharper in the end as they stopped hosts Bangladesh short of what would have been their highest successful chase at home.Bangladesh produced most of the unexpected passages in the game. They reduced Pakistan to 198 for 7 from 135 for 0. They recovered from 135 for 5 to become the favourites towards the closing stages of the game. But when it came to the critical moments which decided the match, Pakistan proved superior.Umar Gul smashed his highest ODI score of 39 from 25 deliveries to convert 198 for 7 into 262 for 8. With Bangladesh requiring 39 off 40 with five wickets in hand, Gul and Saeed Ajmal took 5 for 17 between them to ensure that Shakib Al Hasan’s heroic innings ended in frustration and disappointment.Shakib had induced the Pakistan batting collapse, along with Shahadat Hossain. Like a fighter who has resolutely accepted the fact that he will always have to battle more than his fellow soldiers, he brought his side back into contention after they threatened to implode in the chase.Young Nasir Hossain matched his former captain stroke for stroke in an 89-run sixth-wicket partnership at a run a ball. Shakib drove, Nasir pulled, Shakib slashed, Nasir pulled harder, and Bangladesh hoped.When Nasir took consecutive fours off Gul in the 44th over, Bangladesh seemed to have moved decisively in front. Gul is made of sterner stuff, though. He found nip off the pitch and movement in the air with a 21-over old ball and bowled Nasir for 47. Ajmal, who had gone for 11 in the previous over, stepped in now.With the asking-rate under six, Abdur Razzak decided to slog at a full delivery only to get bowled. Mashrafe Mortaza saw the flight but did not read the doosra. Bowled again. Shafiul Islam had two deliveries to keep out in the next over, the 46th. Gul hurled in the inswinging yorker first up. Gone leg-before.A shocked Shakib steadied himself and squeezed the first ball of the next over, bowled by Ajmal, for four past point. With last man Shahadat at the other end, Shakib was forced to play out most of the over to keep strike for the 48th.He tried to take two off the the first ball of the 48th but managed one. Shahadat blocked out the next five. The equation had rocketed to 22 off 12 by now. Shakib had no choice. He tried to slog Gul but only managed to play on. Game over.Gul had earlier rescued Pakistan with the bat after they lost 7 for 63. He showed that his ODI batting average of 9.28 did not reflect his flicking and pulling capabilities. He savaged Mortaza for 16 runs in the 49th over, hitting the bowler for three consecutive boundaries in his lone counterattack.Pakistan’s innings could be summed up as accumulation, panic and aggression. After Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed put on 135, Shahadat and Shakib brought Bangladesh back with a flurry of wickets before Gul hit back.Pakistan would have never thought that they would need Gul to bail them out after the start given by Hafeez and Jamshed. Hafeez put his lean run against England behind him with a patient knock – his first fifty in ODIs in four months – and along with his latest opening partner, Jamshed, gave Pakistan a strong start to their Asia Cup campaign. Jamshed justified his selection ahead of Azhar Ali with a busy innings that afforded Hafeez the space to overcome his scratchy beginning. Shakib apart, Bangladesh’s attack was steady at best and allowed Hafeez to work himself into some form.As Hafeez and Jamshed brought up their fifties, Bangladesh’s decision to bowl on the flat pitch seemed set to hurt them further, until Jamshed’s slow response to a call for a single gave them an opening. Bangladesh barged into it whole-heartedly as Pakistan’s batting crumbled without warning or justification.Younis Khan succumbed to a leading edge off Shahadat after playing his flick early. Shahadat, who had been average till then, immediately found some menace and produced two sharp bouncers to lure Hafeez and Asad Shafiq into fatal pulls.Umar Akmal, never one to change his hit-everything style, slog swept his wicket away to Shakib, who was to get more reward for being the bowler who troubled Pakistan the most. Shahid Afridi did not get the time to display his brand of hit-everything, as he bunted a return catch to Shakib first ball.Drama has a way of somehow squeezing itself into everything Afridi is involved in. Shakib fumbled the catch on the first attempt, prevented the ball from touching the ground on the second, lobbed it up into Misbah-ul-Haq’s helmet and still had enough balance left to take the rebound on the third attempt. Misbah himself did not get the opportunity to use his crisis-recovery skills as he was soon bowled through the gate. Bangladesh were on top at that stage but would not have accounted for Gul the batsman.Afridi had lasted one delivery with the bat but struck in successive overs to leave the new cautious avatar of Tamim Iqbal and the Bangladesh middle order with a climbing asking-rate. The hosts’ chase was on course at 90 for 1 in the 21st over when Afridi bowled Jahurul Islam and Mushfiqur Rahim in the space of five deliveries. Till Afridi’s strikes, Bangladesh had gone about the chase with unusual calm. With Tamim clearly looking to anchor the innings, Nazimuddin and Jahurul did the attacking.Both batsmen were well-set when they gave away their wickets. Nazimuddin slashed a wide delivery to third man while Jahurul was bowled as he missed a slog off a flighted Afridi delivery. Afridi dealt a bigger blow to Bangladesh when he bowled Rahim who tried to cut his faster one.At the other end, Tamim went on accumulating serenely, finding the boundary every now and then to keep the required-rate in check. He got to his fifty off his 75th delivery, but Hafeez further dented Bangladesh with a double strike. Tamim dinked an innocuous delivery onto his stumps, and Mahmudullah was adjudged leg-before first ball, though replays showed the ball would have missed leg stump.At 135 for 5, Bangladesh were staring at a familiar ending, but Shakib was determined to swim against the tide. His misfortune was that, in the end, he was the only one with that resolve.

After three straight defeats, New Zealand Women finally claimed their first win, coasting home by six wickets in a low-scoring game in Sydney’s Stadium Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2012
ScorecardSuzie Bates led New Zealand’s chase with an unbeaten 40•Getty Images

After three straight defeats, New Zealand Women finally claimed their first win, coasting home by six wickets in a low-scoring curtain-raiser to the men’s Twenty20 international (between Australia and India) in Sydney’s Stadium Australia.In front of a sparse crowd, expected to fill up for the bigger draw in the evening, Australia Women were restricted to 7 for 92 in a match reduced to 18 overs due to rain before the start of play. Kate Broadmore, the right-arm seamer, took 3 for 9 in four tight overs to restrict the Australians. The hosts were limping at 5 for 30 before Jodie Fields and Lisa Sthalekar added 43 for the sixth wicket. Fields remained unbeaten on 37, hitting two fours and a six. She tried to get innovative towards the end of the innings, fetching her only six by moving across to wide of the off stump and scooping Amy Satterthwaite over the fine leg boundary. Sthalekar made 23.Suzie Bates led New Zealand’s chase with an unbeaten 40. The teams will play the fifth and final game in Melbourne in two days.

West Indies women’s cricketer Tremayne Smartt has been suspended by the ICC from all cricket and cricket-related activities for five months after being found guilty of committing an anti-doping violation

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2011West Indies women’s cricketer Tremayne Smartt has been suspended by the ICC from all cricket and cricket-related activities for five months after being found guilty of violating an anti-doping rule. An independent anti-doping tribunal comprising Tim Kerr QC (acting as chairman), Dr Anik Sax and Prof. Peter Sever took the decision at a hearing in London on Friday based on written and oral legal submissions as well as testimony from Smartt, who plead guilty.Smartt has played 15 ODIs and 12 Twenty20 internationals for West Indies.A random urine sample collected in September this year, which was tested at a laboratory accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), was found to contain a prohibited substance called Furosemide. The tribunal accepted that the substance wasn’t used to enhance performance or mask the use of another performance-enhancing drug, “but that she had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility implicit upon her as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.””Smartt, 26, provided a urine sample as part of the ICC’s random in-competition testing programme after the conclusion of a Twenty20 International between West Indies and Pakistan, held in Georgetown, Guyana on September 11,” an ICC release said. Her sample was found to contain Furosemide, classified as a ‘Specified Substance’ under WADA’s Prohibited List.Smartt, according to the release, had taken the substance to treat a swelling in her knee. She was found guilty of violating Article 2.1 of the ICC’s Anti-Doping code and stands suspended until March 25 next year. She has three weeks to appeal against the decision should she wish to.In a statement, Smartt conceded she did not effectively check the Prohibited List and would have to accept the consequences.

In terms of value per match, the T20 tournament is now behind only the NFL

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Jun-2022An IPL game is now worth a record INR 105 crore (USD 13.44 million) making it – in terms of value per match – the second-most lucrative sporting product in the entire world, behind only the NFL (USD 35.07 million*). This figure may actually rise considering the e-auction for the T20 tournament’s media rights, which began on Sunday, continues.The combined sum bid so far is INR 38,850 crore (USD 4.97 billion) – that is INR 21,090 crore (USD 2.7 billion) for Package A (TV rights for India sub-continent) and INR 17,760 crore (USD 2.27 billion) for Package B (digital for India subcontinent); it is already 2.38 times or 138% higher than the 2018-22 IPL rights deal, bagged by Star India in 2017 for $2.55 billion.These numbers are based on there being 74 games per season in the next five-year rights cycle starting in 2023. As it stands, the IPL has overtaken the Premier League, whose value per match, as per the 2022-25 rights, is listed at USD 11.34 million**.Doing away with the process of closed bids, the IPL put its media rights up for sale for the first time through an e-auction. In an e-auction, bids are filed through an online portal managed by an independent company. The highest bids across all categories are flashed on screen – simultaneously and live – but names of the bidders are not disclosed to ensure rivals don’t bump up prices.For this auction, the IPL set a minimum base price for each of the four categories and asked bidders to list their price on a per match basis. For Package A the per match base price is INR 49 crore (USD 6.3 million). For Package B it is INR 33 crore (USD 4.2 million) per match. For Package C it is INR 16 crore (USD 2.05 million) per match. For Package D it is INR 3 crore (USD 390,000).On Sunday, Packages A and B went up for bidding simultaneously with all the key bidders among final list of seven keenly contesting. The highest bid for Package A on was INR 57 crore (USD 7.29 million) – 16.3% higher than the base price set by IPL. The highest bid for Package B was INR 48 crore (USD 6.14 million), 45.4% higher than the base price.The combined figure – INR 105 crore – is already 93.6% higher than the per match value in the previous IPL rights deal (INR 54.23 crore).The bidders – Disney-Star, Sony, Viacom-Reliance, Zee, Fun Asia, Super Sport and Times Internet – will resume the auction on Monday 11 am IST. As per the rules set by IPL, the winner of Package A has the right to compete for the digital rights by locking horns with the highest bidder in Package B. The auction process will continue till one of them drops out. Once the highest bidder for Packages A and B are determined, the auction process for Packages C & D will commence.All USD values are approximations where 1 USD = 78 INR

Bowlers then take over to lead TKR to third successive victory in CPL 2020

The Report by Firdose Moonda23-Aug-2020Half-centuries from Colin Munro and Darren Bravo, who also shared in a 98-run stand with Kieron Pollard, propelled the Trinbago Knight Riders to the highest score of this year’s CPL and the top of the points’ table. The defending champion Barbados Tridents made a fist of the chase, and were ahead of the required run-rate after the PowerPlay but could not sustain their scoring. They remain in the bottom half of the table.Knight Riders picked up pace after a watchful start which brought just 27 runs in the first five overs. They scored at more than 10 runs an over for the remainder of their innings, giving Tridents a mountain to climb in response. Tridents’ innings played out in opposite fashion. They raced to 68 inside eight overs, thanks largely to Johnson Charles’ 52, but then lost three wickets for seven runs, leaving the middle order with too much to do in the second half of the innings.Nursing the scoring rate Ashley Nurse was the first spinner Jason Holder turned to immediately after the Powerplay, just as Munro had started to free his arms, and he proved the most economical of the Tridents’ attack. Nurse found turn and grip on a wearing surface and would have had Sunil Narine’s wicket at the start of his second over but Shai Hope could not hold on to a thick outside edge. Narine only lasted until the next over anyway, as Nurse and Raymon Reifer kept the Knight Riders’ fairly quiet. Nurse was the only bowler to concede less than eight runs an over and was eventually rewarded when Munro slogged his final ball to deep midwicket, where Rashid Khan took a tumbling catch. The One-Handed Six Specialist and his 3,000 run partner Knight Riders entered the last four overs with a strong foundation of 116 for 3 and then upped the ante. Mitchell Santner’s only over cost 19 runs and included Pollard fetching a wide delivery with one hand to send it down the ground for six. At the end of the next over, Pollard pulled it off again, this time against Reifer, who bowled it too full. Pollard took his bottom-hand off the bat to get under the ball and hoist it over long-on. And in the over after that, Darren Bravo reached the milestone of 3,000 T20 runs when he belted a low-full toss from Jason Holder down the ground for four. The Knight Riders’ scored 69 runs in the last four overs, 52 of them in boundaries.Not quite brotherly love Only the off-side seemed to get the better of Charles, who all but three of his 52 runs on the other side of the field, but Dwayne Bravo could have caused Charles trouble with his first ball. Charles hit Dwayne to the left of deep midwicket, who just happened to be Bravo’s little brother, Darren, who ran and dived and tried to hold on but couldn’t. Worse than the missed chance, or that Charles was on a roll, was that the wicket would have been Dwayne’s 500th. Darren made amends when he took the catch that dismissed Kyle Mayers but Dwayne will have to wait for the next match to take his milestone wicket.Back of the bat and back to the changeroomPollard was not the only innovative stroke-maker on the day. Jonathan Carter, whose contribution was a mere 8, scored four of them off the back of his bat when he got down on one knee to scoop Dwayne Bravo over fine leg. Carter switched his stance but not his bat and instead of turning it around in his hands, just used the other side. He wasn’t able to provide much more entertainment though. He lost his leg stump to Ali Khan and the most exuberant celebration in the two overs later. Apart from the customary fast-bowlers’ roar, Ali ripped off his sweat band and chucked it away in delight.