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Devon Conway became the second batter to be retired out in IPL 2025, after Tilak Varma in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) chase against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) earlier in the tournament. On Tuesday, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pulled out Conway when he failed to get a move on with the asking rate against Punjab Kings (PBKS) rising. But, in the opinion of Piyush Chawla and Wasim Jaffer, CSK might have waited too long for the decision to have an effect on the result.”Conway is the kind of batter who is more technically strong and he doesn’t try to play that [many shots] in the air. You saw that in the middle overs also, when he was trying to hit a pull shot also, he was rolling his wrists like a proper technical batsman,” Chawla said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “That’s where they missed that point. When Shivam [Dube] was trying to hit those bit shots, Conway didn’t even try that. At one point, I felt he just wanted to take it deep. But if you want to take the game deep, you don’t want your [asking] rate to go out of hand.”Playing his second game of the season, Conway had a 61-run stand with Rachin Ravindra up top in CSK’s chase of PBKS’ 219, and after Ruturaj Gaikwad fell cheaply, added 89 more with Dube. That partnership came off just 51 balls, with Dube scoring at 155.55. But after Dube was gone, and with 69 needed off 25 balls, Conway made nine more runs off six balls. MS Dhoni was in the middle, and Ravindra Jadeja and Vijay Shankar walked out after Conway left, but CSK fell 18 short.Related

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“You expect that change [of gears] to happen at some point of time when you know the batsman is struggling,” Gaikwad said of the decision at the presentation ceremony. “Initially we thought that he was still striking the ball [well]. We waited, waited until we thought it was necessary and then we thought, yes, why not change.””If they wanted to do that, they could have done that at least two-three overs before that also,” Chawla said. “Because if he is not getting those big shots, you want somebody to come in and you want to give that kind of a sighter, at least two to three balls, and then got for it. By the time they retired him out it was too late, I felt.”Jaffer, however, felt that CSK didn’t have a choice at that point because they didn’t expect the big shots to come from Jadeja or Vijay Shankar either.”You could have retired him and you could have retired him a little early. But, again, Jadeja was the only one [left]. I don’t think they would have trusted [Vijay Shankar]… you needed one more batter there who could have done that [score quickly],” Jaffer said. “But, unfortunately, they didn’t have anybody. Even Jadeja for that matter, he has his restrictions [in terms of how fast he can score].”17:35

Bangar: Dhoni not playing for the crowd, he has a clear role at CSK

As it turned out, while Dhoni was quick in scoring 27 in 12 balls with three sixes, Jadeja and Vijay Shankar scored 11 runs in seven balls. But, to be fair to them, by the time they got out, it was perhaps too late to change anything.Stephen Fleming, the CSK coach, agreed that the innings had “lost some momentum” in the middle overs, but was pleased that they had crossed 200 for the first time this season.”We had an innings of substance at the top [from Conway]. In the IPL, you need your top three/four to get a majority of the runs. We haven’t been doing that,” Fleming said. “It was pleasing that we got off to a more solid start. We weren’t able to just maintain a high momentum through the middle, partly good bowling and maybe we were trying to push too hard. It’s something we will review.”But it’s not a bad chase. About three hits away. But we just lost a bit of momentum through the middle.”

Chinelle Henry’s late onslaught, uncapped seamer Kranti Goud’s four-wicket haul, Grace Harris’ last-over hat-trick. UP Warriorz had brilliant moments on the field and produced a thumping win over Delhi Capitals to finally get off the mark, in their third attempt, in WPL 2025. In the first reverse fixture of this season, Warriorz defended 177 by bowling Capitals out for 144 for a 33-run victory. They are also the first team to defend a total in this edition.The Chinnaswamy Stadium came alive late in the first innings thanks to Henry’s fireworks. From 89 for 6, her entertaining 23-ball knock lifted Warriorz from a potential below-par total to a match-winning one. Striking at an astonishing 269.56, Henry smashed eight sixes and two fours to reach the joint-fastest fifty, off 18 balls, in WPL history.In the chase, Jemimah Rodrigues’s 56 held the fort but Capitals collapsed from 97 for 3 to 111 for 7 and couldn’t recover. Niki Prasad and Shikha Pandey’s handy contributions at the death weren’t enough as Goud and Harris shared eight wickets between them to topple Capitals.

Goud’s dream spell

Goud, 21, bowled just four overs in the first two matches in her debut WPL season. Warriorz lost both games and she leaked 47 runs. But Deepti Sharma persisted with her.Kranti Goud celebrates dismissing Meg Lanning•BCCI

Goud quickly found her feet and repaid the team’s faith in the team’s first game in Bengaluru this season. She was hit for a first-ball four by Meg Lanning but, two balls later, nipped one back sharply to disturb the stumps of Capitals’ captain. She conceded just two off her next over, the seventh overall, and dismissed Shafali Verma in her next over with a short delivery. Three overs, 16 runs and two wickets. When Goud finished her first spell, Capitals needed 126 runs from 66 balls.When she came back for her final over, Capitals had to chase 76 off 36 with Rodrigues going strong. But Goud had Jess Jonassen caught and bowled and Rodrigues caught at extra cover in the same over to leave Capitals 111 for 6.

Henry’s rescue act

Deepti batted at No. 4 in the opening game, making a 27-ball 39. In the next two games, both against Capitals, she came in at No. 3 and made a run-a-ball seven in Lucknow, and 13 off 19 balls in Bengaluru. Whether it’s the ideal slot for her is something to keep an eye on especially when the middle order isn’t firing.In the last WPL, she accumulated 295 runs at a strike rate of 136.67 in eight innings. She came in at No. 3 only once and scored 59. But mostly she batted in the middle order, where she remained unbeaten four out of five times and smashed 218 runs including two fifties, at a strike rate of 143.42.Deepti Sharma’s has had a tough time batting at No. 3•BCCI

In this WPL, the likes of Tahlia McGrath and Harris not stepping up in the middle order has been a concern for Warriorz. It has left Henry with a lot of rescue work to do late in the innings. In the last match, she blazed away an unbeaten 33 off 15 to power them to 166.On Saturday, Henry came in at No. 8 in the 14th over when Warriorz were 89 for 6 and straightaway dispatched two sixes off Arundhati Reddy to ease some pressure. She then targeted Pandey, smashing a four and two sixes in the 17th over, and threw a few more big blows before eventually losing her wicket to Jonassen on the final ball of the innings.Warriorz have been the poorest team in the middle phase (from overs seven to 16) this WPL, having lost 15 wickets in the three games including five on Saturday, but Henry helped them fight back on this occasion.

Rodrigues fights but Capitals fail to adapt

The ball was swinging and nipping around at the start of the second innings, troubling the likes of Shafali and Lanning. But Warriorz were sloppy in the field; Saima Thakor, brought back but not given a bow, dropped two catches and wicketkeeper Uma Chetry failed to hold on to chances; however Goud pulled them back. Barring Rodrigues, no one in the Capitals top seven was able to adapt to the conditions in Bengaluru.Jemimah Rodrigues made 56 off 35 balls•BCCI

Even Rodrigues took 19 balls to score her first 23 runs and once she found her rhythm, she grew in confidence and smashed eye-pleasing boundaries to the cover region. She raced to her first fifty of this season, off 30 balls. And her eight fours and one six gave Capitals some hope but the middle order let the game slip away from them in the end.

Harris bags a hat-trick

In her own words, Harris is a batting allrounder. But she has not set the stage on fire in this WPL yet, scoring just 18 runs in three games. However, with the ball, she had picked up two wickets in her first two matches and went one better on Saturday. She first dismissed Capitals’ Player of the Match from last fixture, Annabel Sutherland, in the 14th over of the chase.In the final over, with 34 needed for a win, Harris removed Prasad, Reddy and Minnu Mani off successive deliveries to become the third player in the WPL to bag a hat-trick after Deepti and Issy Wong.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape 177 for 2 (de Zorzi 78, J Hermann 69*) beat Paarl Royals 175 for 4 (R Hermann 81*, Pretorius 59) by eight wicketsSunrisers Eastern Cape will play in a third successive final after winning two matches in two days. They will take on first-time finalists MI Cape Town on Saturday, with memories of their wins over Pretoria Capitals (2023) and Durban’s Super Giants (2024) fresh in their minds. The defending champions have now won knockout matches both batting first and chasing on the Highveld, where MICT last played a week ago, and may fancy themselves as favourites.For now, they will celebrate another successful campaign, irrespective of whether they win the trophy or not. They have shown all the ingredients for a champion team, specifically that they have enough depth in the squad for sustained success.Less than 24 hours after beating Joburg Super Kings, SEC returned to Centurion with what looked like a completely different batting blueprint and new bowling plans.Liam Dawson, who has been both economical and attacking in the tournament so far, was only used when Ottneil Baartman had to leave the field with what looked like a hamstring concern and Aiden Markram bowled a full quota of four overs instead. That may be mostly to do with match-ups against a Paarl side filled with left-handers but also shows the versatility of SEC’s attack. Baartman will be a particular concern for them ahead of the final but he will have some time to assess the seriousness of the niggle.Importantly, their top-order, who were the least successful of the group stage, came together at the right time. David Bedingham and Tony de Zorzi posted 46 inside four overs against JSK in the Eliminator and de Zorzi’s 78 anchored their successful chase against Paarl in Qualifier 2.De Zorzi is a particularly interesting case because he is not really considered a T20 player. He was named as a replacement when allrounder Patrick Kruger was ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury and immediately displaced a misfiring Zak Crawley, who only contributed two scores over 20 in eight matches.Lhuan-dre Pretorius has been one of the finds of the tournament•Sportzpics

De Zorzi did not initially look the part with 24 runs in three innings and was doubting himself. “It is tough. We don’t play that many T20 games,” de Zorzi said in the post-match press conference. “I think you would obviously want to play a lot more and find your rhythm or your blueprint. Marco [Jansen] kept saying to me, ‘just keep your intent up’. There’s definitely times where you look in the mirror and you think, ‘Maybe I must put that [hopes of being a T20 player] in the cupboard.”Tonight was not one of those times. Against expectation, de Zorzi pulled off his highest score since his century in the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20. His was an innings that started riskily with a top-edge that fell safely and went for four, and an outside edge that evaded first slip, and then evolved spectacularly. There were drives and cuts but the shot of the night was when the ball became but a speck in the night sky as he pulled Mitch Owen high over deep square leg for six. That shot created distance between Sunrisers and the DLS par score as lightning strikes surrounded Centurion.The storm didn’t arrive but Paarl Royals were still blown away, and one family in particular will have felt they’d navigated changing winds. The Hermann brothers were on either side of this contest and their father, Marius, was in attendance in his custom-made half-and-half shirt and cap. One half is the pink of Paarl; the other is the orange of the Eastern Cape and on the back it says “Hermann supporter.”At least, he was rewarded for the surname. Rubin top-scored with 81 off 53 balls and was key to Paarl getting over 160 but Jordan was there at the end, when SEC won the match. By the end, Marius was in full SEC kit, which was as good a signal as any that Paarl’s race was run.Related

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• Sunrisers keep three-peat dream alive as Marco Jansen makes the difference again

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In reality, it ended after their home stretch, where they became the first team to win all five of the games they’ve played, and when they lost Joe Root to national duty shortly after. “Him leaving left a little bit of a gap with that all-round role,” David Miller said. “That one or two overs of spin, or sometimes four and the kind of experience that he has batting through, or getting through the Powerplay, and just playing good cricket shots.”Paarl’s attack may also need a re-think after it was primarily set up for the slower, lower conditions of Boland Park and then struggled up-country. In particular, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who was the leading wicket-taker at one stage of the tournament, has gone wicketless in the last three games, while Lungi Ngidi, their senior seamer, only played in five of their 12 games and no knockouts. Asked if they could have used him more, Miller concurred.”We definitely could have. It’s a very unfortunate situation… but the way the team is set up, there was only really one position between a couple of fast bowlers and, you know, we went with Kwena [Maphaka] with the extra pace and the left arm variation,” Miller said, also dousing any worries that Ngidi is not fully fit. “But Lungi has been bowling a lot outside of the games and really getting back to where he knows he can bowl. He’s been fantastic off the field for the squad.”But all is not lost for Paarl. Root’s opening partner, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, was the find of the tournament and is currently the leading run-scorer. Though he had a lean patch after his two big scores in his first three games, he struck a sweet 59 in the second qualifier and will be one to watch in future.”He’s unbelievable. He’s 18 years old so he’s got a lot of time,” Miller said. “He plays length really well, he’s got a really good head on him and he wants to do well so those are all very good things. He’s an incredible talent and I’m really looking forward to watching his progress and seeing what he can achieve.”Some will be saying the same about SEC as they wonder how much more they can win. They remain the only team to win the SA20 and their ability to step up when it matters means it would be difficult to bet against them.”They’re a team that never leaves you as an opposition, so you always have to be on your game. They’re clever cricketers and gutsy cricketers,” Miller said. “When you’ve got a squad like that and a never-say-die attitude, it often goes a long way in T20 cricket, especially in the field. They give absolutely everything. They’ve got a great thing going and I wish them all the very best.”

Steven Smith is “100%” certain he got his hand under the ball when he attempted to catch Virat Kohli at slip on the first day of the SCG Test, a decision that was referred to the TV umpire and eventually ruled not out.”No denying it whatsoever, 100%,” Smith told , former ICC umpire Simon Taufel said he could “certainly understand what the third umpire’s done there”.Washington Sundar walks off after being given out via DRS•Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“I think you described it very well when you said that depending upon which side of the fence you sit on you could probably build a case for either decision to be given,” Taufel said. “Listening to Joel Wilson’s language there, where he said the fingers were underneath the ball and then he’s seen it roll on to the ground, by his own language he is telling us that he believes he’s seeing that ball on the ground.”So, there are two things that the TV umpire here is looking for. One is fingers underneath the ball. He was satisfied there. But then he believes through those pictures that he’s clearly seen the ball on the ground. And here’s the challenge, slowing it right down with slow-mo. Play it at real speed and it looks pretty good.”I can certainly understand what the third umpire’s done there. He believes he’s seen the ball on the ground and called it way he’s seen it. Normally the ICC protocol on fair catches is if you see the fingers underneath the ball, that’s good to maintain a fair catch. But here’s the problem: the on-field umpire’s no longer have the soft signal and make the decision, it’s purely in the hands of the television umpire now.”Having survived that close call first ball, Kohli ground out 17 off 69 deliveries, without finding the boundary, before edging Boland to debutant Beau Webster at third slip.Later in the day the third umpire was again in focus when Washington Sundar was given caught down the leg side off Pat Cummins on review. After many replays, Wilson determined there was a spike on real-time snicko (RTS) and no gap between ball and glove, seemingly much to the displeasure of Washington who stood for a moment before walking very slow off the ground.It followed the incident at the MCG where Yashasvi Jaiswal was given out, also pulling down the leg side, when RTS did not register anything but the third umpire saw a clear deflection off the glove.”There is not much to say because technology is one part which as a cricketer, you can’t control,” Rishabh Pant said of the latest decision against Washington.”But I feel whatever decision we make on the field, it has to stay with the on-field umpire. That’s the only thing, unless it’s so conclusive to change the decision, I think we should stay with the on-field umpire. The rest is umpire’s decision, at the end of the day. I can’t challenge that every day but technology can be a little better, I guess.”

Spencer Johnson is building some good memories of the SCG. For his second consecutive outing there he walked away as player of the match as a career-best 5 for 26 sealed the T20I series against Pakistan.They were the best figures by an Australia men’s quick in T20Is, moving above James Faulkner’s 5 for 27 also against Pakistan in Mohali in 2016, and it follows his title-winning performance in last season’s BBL final against Sydney Sixers where he claimed 4 for 26. Throw in 3 for 28 also against Sixers in early 2023, and he has 12 wickets at 6.66 in T20s at the ground.Related

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“That doesn’t really make any sense to be honest,” Johnson said of his figures on Saturday evening. “It’s nice to be back at the SCG. My last time here was the Big Bash final and the conditions were in the bowler’s favour.”Much like that BBL game, where he was struck for three boundaries off his four balls before turning things around, it wasn’t an ideal start in front of a crowd of 31,563 as his first ball went for five wides down the leg side and his third was taken first slip.But Johnson had confidence in himself, and in his second over removed Sahibzada Farhan. Then when he returned in the 10th over he put himself on a hat-trick with the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha before making the decisive blow by removing Usman Khan for 52 when he was threatening to turn the game back Pakistan’s way.”I’ve played enough T20 cricket to know game to game you can have good games and bad games,” Johnson said. “A lot of time it’s through no fault of your own. You can mis-execute. But I knew tonight I had three overs to bounce back. I felt like the first over in that Big Bash final was a bit under pressure, and I was thinking back to that game and that I still had three overs to contribute to the team.”Johnson is among a group of Australian quick bowlers who fight for their opportunities in white-ball cricket when the big three of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are absent as they are for this series. With that trio having spoken of Test cricket being a priority, there could be a chance of some renewal in Australia’s first-choice T20 attack ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup following their Super Eight exit at this year’s tournament although Johnson is not expecting rapid change.”I know the big three will be here for a long time,” Johnson said. “They’re not going anywhere, they are only getting better. To be able to chop in and be part of the squad a lot more will only help me there. They are unbelievably durable and have done it for so long. They are definitely the benchmark.”Johnson, who missed the UK white-ball tour in September with a side strain, admitted that backing up game after game remained the challenge for him. He is expected to play the final T20I in Hobart on Monday which would make it four games in a row having also featured in the deciding ODI in Perth and has his sights set on a Sheffield Shield outing for South Australia before the BBL with Brisbane Heat.”The durability question mark is there for me, and, hopefully, the more I play the more durable I get.” he said. “I feel like the body’s getting there. It’s taken its time.”

Big picture: Pakistan out to keep series alive, last hit-out for several of Australia’s Test stars

After falling short of an incredible heist in game one at the MCG, Pakistan will need to regroup and conjure a rare victory at the picturesque Adelaide Oval on Friday to keep the series alive.Pakistan’s quicks gamely attempted to defend a modest score of 203, with fiery bowling from Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah on a fast and bouncy surface almost leading to a dream start for new ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan.Related

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The short-pitched tactics worked well and rattled Australia’s batters, but Pakistan will likely need to change their approach on a ground with much shorter dimensions square of the wicket compared to the MCG. They will be wise to focus on bowling a disciplined line and length against an explosive Australia batting-order determined to stick with an ultra-aggressive method.To keep the series alive heading into Sunday’s decider in Perth, Pakistan will also need to defy a poor record against Australia having only won twice in the last 14 ODIs between the two sides.Australia weren’t overly convincing in game one, but can wrap up the series in what will be the final hit-out for skipper Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Marnus Labuschagne before the first Test against India.Starc has been in sizzling early season form, while Cummins was clutch with ball and bat at the MCG. Smith’s crisp 44 allayed fears over his form but Labuschagne is in the midst of a lean patch and scored just 16 in the first ODI before being hustled by the extra bounce of Rauf.

Form guide

AustraliaWWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
PakistanLLWWL

In the spotlight: Matt Short and Babar Azam

While the Test ‘bat off’ continues during the second Australia A match at the MCG, Australia also have David Warner’s shoes to fill in ODI cricket. With regular opener Travis Head on paternity leave, Matt Short and Jake Fraser-McGurk are trying to make compelling cases ahead of the Champions Trophy but both fell cheaply in the opening game. Short has been viewed as having the inside running after performing well against England in the UK recently but made just one run in the series-opener after top-edging Shaheen Shah Afridi to third man. He should relish returning to the Adelaide Oval, where he has made a heap of runs in the BBL over the years for Strikers. Short has a golden opportunity in front of him in conditions he knows very well.Babar Azam looked in good touch before being beaten by Adam Zampa in Melbourne•AFP

Pakistan’s batters were exposed in challenging MCG conditions after being sent in. The exception was Babar Azam, who was a class above his team-mates with an elegant 37 off 44. He got through Australia’s quicks until he stumbled trying to accelerate the run rate against legspinner Adam Zampa. Babar’s recent struggles have been well documented and led to his controversial axing during the England Test series. But he seemed well at home back in ODI cricket, his favored format where he averages 56.52 – the fourth highest all-time – and is one century away from equalling Saeed Anwar’s Pakistan record of 20. He’ll have fond memories of playing at the Adelaide Oval having scored an even century against Australia in January 2017 – the last time the teams clashed in an ODI at the ground.

Team news: Hazlewood returns; Naseem expected to be fit

Hazlewood is likely to replace Sean Abbott in the XI and play his sole international match before the first Test. After a month’s break following the UK tour, Hazlewood made his return for New South Wales against Queensland in a Sheffield Shield fixture at Cricket Central that finished earlier in the week. He went wicketless from 24 overs in Queensland’s only innings of the drawn match.Australia (possible): 1 Matt Short, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Josh Inglis (wk), 5 Marnus Labuschagne, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Aaron Hardie, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh HazlewoodNaseem was forced to leave the field in the first ODI due to cramps but is expected to be available. Pakistan may need to consider playing a frontline spinner in Adelaide.Pakistan (possible): 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Kamran Ghulam, 6 Salman Ali Agha, 7 Irfan Khan, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Mohammad Hasnain

Pitch and conditions

Despite its reputation as a batting paradise, Adelaide Oval has been tough to bat on as underlined in a low-scoring Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and Victoria that finished earlier in the week although that was designed to assist the home side’s spinners. The surface is usually considerably flatter for white-ball cricket with the short square dimensions leading to rapid scoring. There has been rain in the lead-up to the match and a shower is forecast on Friday morning. But play should be unaffected with sunny conditions expected throughout the afternoon.

Stats and trivia

• Mitchell Starc is six wickets away from becoming the fourth Australian to take 250 ODI wickets. He has the best strike-rate by an Australian in ODI cricket (minimum 50 wickets).
• Glenn Maxwell needs 66 runs to reach 4000 in ODIs.
• Shaheen Shah Afridi (25.99) and Haris Rauf (26.23) sit seventh and eighth respectively for bowling strike-rates in ODI history (minimum 1000 balls).
• Pakistan have beaten Australia just once from eight ODIs at the Adelaide Oval. Their only win was by 12 runs in December 1996.
  

  Quotes

  “The game is changing and we want to take the game on in the first 10 overs. Instead of scrapping to 240-250, which aren’t winnable scores out here, getting towards the high 300 mark is more of a winning total we think.”

Alex Carey has launched his red-ball summer by blitzing a quick-fire 90 for South Australia against New South Wales, before Nathan Lyon inspired a late collapse to put the Blues in command.Carey smashed 90 from 85 balls on day two at Sydney’s Cricket Central, as South Australia went to stumps at 227 for 7 in reply to NSW’s 366.After arriving at the wicket with the visitors at 87 for 3, Carey peppered the cow-corner boundary and regularly had the game stopped for lost balls in the scrubland.The left-hander hammered four sixes in his counter-attacking knock, going after Tanveer Sangha after the NSW spinner struck twice.Carey’s runs came after Travis Head also hit two sixes in his 30 for South Australia, batting at No.4 and not opening just six weeks out from the first Test against India.Head twice hit Sangha over the rope for six, before the legspinner beat the left-hander in flight when he tossed a ball up outside off stump and drew his edge.But, after making two half-centuries on Australia’s recent one-day tour of England, Carey stayed in white-ball mode. He hit back-to-back boundaries down the ground off quick Jack Nisbet, and also slog-swept Nathan Lyon for another six into the scrubland.Sangha was given the same treatment later in the day, before Carey reverse-swept and drove the spinner to the boundary.”Tanveer was bowling a pretty aggressive line around the wicket into some rough, so I felt like I had to be on the front foot and not just sit on the crease,” Carey said.”The intent was definitely there. I think when I am playing my best cricket I have a strong intent.”I just thought I had to be a little proactive.”The wicketkeeper-bat eventually bit off more than he could chew, caught in the deep trying to take on Lyon. His dismissal prompted another collapse of 4 for 5, with Lyon taking three wickets in 14 balls to finish with 3 for 45. Australia’s Test spinner had Daniel Drew caught-and-bowled for a duck, before he spun one out of the rough to bowl Ben Manenti for four.Captain Nathan McSweeney was run out on 55, adding salt into the wound for South Australia as the pressure from Lyon mounted.”I’ve been itching to get back playing. It’s what I love doing,” Lyon said. “I feel like I’ve been training the house down and in a really good headspace.”I had [spin coach] John Davison down last week, so just ticking those boxes with a really big summer ahead.”Carey’s knock came after fellow wicketkeeper Josh Inglis made 122 from 117 balls for Western Australia against Queensland. Earlier, Sangha (19 not out) and Liam Hatcher (26) added 42 for the final wicket for the Blues, giving the hosts a brief upper-hand when the pair then struck early with the ball.

Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) have signed local offspinner Bryan Charles as Dwayne Bravo’s replacement for the rest of CPL 2024.Bravo had announced his retirement from all cricket on Thursday after a groin injury cut short his stint in CPL 2024. Bravo had suffered the injury when he attempted to take the catch of Kings’ captain Faf du Plessis in the seventh over in Tarouba.Charles, 29, plays for Trinidad & Tobago in domestic cricket, but is yet to play an official T20. He is better known for his red-ball skills, having recently earned a call-up to West Indies’ Test side for the home Test series against South Africa earlier this year.Related

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Charles was also the leading wicket-taker for Trinidad & Tobago in the West Indies four-day championship, taking 31 wickets in seven games at an average of 17. The tally included a career-best match haul of 13 wickets against Jamaica in Kingston in April.Charles could potentially act as cover for Sunil Narine, who has missed TKR’s last three games with a quad complaint. In the injury-enforced absence of Narine, Kieron Pollard had Tim David bowling offspin with the dry new ball in TKR’s last home game of the season, against Barbados Royals, on Friday. With three left-handers in Royal’s top six – TKR could potentially meet Royals again in the Eliminator – there’s a possibility of Charles coming into contention for selection if Narine’s still unfit for the playoffs.David has also joined TKR’s injury list, Pollard suggested, after he had seemingly hurt his side and banged his head into the ground while saving a six at the boundary on Friday.”Yes, the injuries are a big, big concern,” Pollard said after the match. “Obviously Tim [David] coming off the field as well, Narine [is] still not fit, Russell with his injury as well. My body is getting down a bit after a long tournament.”But having said that we are going to continue to rally, continue to try hard and continue to rest when needed. The support staff and the physio and doctors – they are all doing a really, really good job to keep the guys on the park.”

Lou Vincent, the former New Zealand international, received a special cap earlier this month to commemorate his 100th ODI, nearly 17 years since the milestone in 2007. Sir Richard Hadlee presented Vincent the cap in Auckland at a small ceremony attended by Vincent’s family and some former team-mates.”It was a lovely way to be acknowledged for my cricketing career, and to be able to use the night as an avenue to say thank you very, very much to people who’ve been by my side through the great times and the tricky times,” Vincent told The Post. “It was a really memorable, special night with some lovely words spoken.”Vincent, who finished with 2413 runs in 102 ODIs, also played 23 Tests and nine T20Is between 2001 and 2007. He then played in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League (ICL) and was on the domestic circuit until 2014, when he was banned for life by the ECB for corrupt activities on the county circuit.In December 2023, the ECB revised the punishment, allowing Vincent to return to working in domestic cricket.Related

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“The past is the past,” Vincent said in Auckland. “It was powerful that I had such huge support for the application for the ban to be appealed and there was no opposition from the ECB, they fully respected the work I’d done behind the scenes over the last few years and using my experiences to help educate the next generation of players.”NZC chief executive Scott Weenink said the board had been sitting on Vincent’s commemorative cap “for probably 13 years.””The reality is, you can’t forget what he actually did and he would be the first to admit that, but he’s done his penance and no one has done more to fight match-fixing than he has by being so open and telling everything that he knew,” Weenink said. “When the opportunity came, it was really the least we could do to present him with his cap.”According to Vincent, Hadlee – the former chairman of selectors who had first picked him for New Zealand – was in tears while presenting the cap.”I was able to say to him ‘Richard, you are New Zealand Cricket, you are the best player we’ve ever had, you’ve achieved so much, and for you to take time out and fly to Auckland to want to present this cap to me is so, so humbling and a reflection of the great man you are,” Vincent said. “And he was in tears. Sir Richard Hadlee in tears!”Vincent’s 100th ODI appearance came in Cape Town in December 2007, where he scored 18 and also took his only ODI wicket by dismissing Jacques Kallis. Now 45, and slowly returning to cricket, Vincent recently turned out for Seddon Cricket Club and was involved in a five-day match to raise awareness on men’s mental health.”Life moves on, and my life has moved on now. I’ve been blessed with a little son, and I’ve got two daughters who are teenagers,” Vincent said. “To have the opportunity to start a family again and be settled in the far north and have the beach life – a simple life – this is all I’m focused on now.”

Nepal had played eight games at the Women’s Asia Cup in 2012 and 2016 combined, but couldn’t register a single win. Then they didn’t make the next two editions in 2018 and 2022. They almost missed the bus for the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 too, but a late tweak in rules in March 2024 brought Nepal here, and now they have their first-ever win in the competition.Riding on an unbeaten 72 from opener Samjhana Khadka and a three-wicket haul from captain Indu Barma, Nepal defeated the more-fancied UAE by six wickets in the tournament opener. They got home with 23 balls to spare after restricting UAE to 115 for 8 at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.Nepal finished as the semi-finalists in the qualifying tournament, the ACC Women’s Premier Cup in February 2024. But while releasing the schedule in March, the Asian Cricket Council announced that the semi-finalists of that tournament would be eligible to play the tournament, making it the biggest-ever edition. Nepal’s win on the opening day seems to validate that decision of expanding the tournament to more teams.

Khadka magic aided by UAE’s slips

Khadka came into the Asia Cup in good form. She was the leading run-getter in the Lalitpur Mayor Women’s Championship, Nepal’s domestic T20 competition, in May. Her success for the Sudur Paschim Province, the runners-up, was primarily at the top of the order. Though she had never opened the batting in her 16 previous T20Is, Nepal decided to capitalise on her domestic form by bumping her up to the top, and she did not disappoint.Khadka got going with a four by opening the face of the bat to guide Dharnidharka through backward point in the first over of the chase. She then showcased her power back-foot punches through cover in the third over, and Nepal were racing along. One of the characteristics of her knock was running between the wickets, which put pressure on the infielders. UAE crumbled under that pressure as Khadka did not miss out taking runs even on the half-stops.Khadka held her own even when Egodage varied her pace and flight. Egodage, the Colombo-born UAE player who was playing in Sri Lanka for the first time, dismissed Sita Rana Magar and Kabita Kunwar to return figures of 4-1-12-3. None of the other bowlers were able to exert enough pressure.The result? Khadka raced away to 50 off just 35 balls, the first half-century by a Nepal batter in the Women’s Asia Cup. She finished with her career-best T20I score – when she hit the winning runs – a score that was 56 more than the previous best by a Nepal batter in the competition.

Spinners trouble UAE

Nepal had pressed their seamers Kabita Kunwar and Sabnam Rai into action after opting to bowl. Even though they picked up two wickets – Esha Oza was run-out going for a non-existent single in the second over, and then Rinitha Rajith missed a wild hoick to be bowled on the next ball – the four overs they bowled in tandem went for 27. Once spin was introduced, the runs dried up.After a quiet fifth over by Rubina Chhetry, Indu Barma beat Theertha Satish at her own game in the final over of the powerplay. Theertha, the UAE opener, loves driving the ball on the up. She showed that aplenty at the start, even though she found the fielders. The stride forward, the straight bat, the timing – everything was there in the only four she hit in her knock. Barma challenged her to repeat it against her offspin, and she held onto a return catch. UAE were three down inside the powerplay.

Egodage and Khushi stage a mini-recovery

When Barma had Samaira Dharnidharka chip one to cover in the eighth over, UAE were 46 for 4. Khushi Sharma joined Kavisha Egodage at that point and the pair kept the scorecard ticking without taking too many risks. However, they could manage only two fours each and in their attempt to manufacture boundaries, they only found the fielders regularly and the running between the wickets was also marked by confusion.In a bid to take the aerial route against left-arm spinner Kritika Marasini, Egodage sliced one to backward point. Khushi changed gears after that but to little effect. Chhetry, Barma and Kabita Joshi’s offspin, and Sita Rana Magar and Marasini’s left-arm spin never let the momentum slip, as UAE were kept to a below-par total after losing 3 for 6 at the back end.