The German media have accused England of 'cheating' their way to the final of Euro 2024.
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Stallions captain Thisara Perera says his side’s ability to bat deep made them a dangerous opponent in the final
Madushka Balasuriya15-Dec-2020The Jaffna Stallions’ road to the final has been littered with games that they’ve won despite having at some point been behind the proverbial eight ball. Oddly enough, many of these games they’ve gone on to win comfortably, though those have been largely down to some stellar individual efforts.The most memorable such occurrence came in just their second game of the tournament against Dambulla Viiking. Having found themselves staring down the barrel at 64 for 5, Thisara Perera’s 44-ball 97-run shellacking would set up a dominant 66-run win. Then against the Kandy Tuskers, it was again Perera, this time with a little help from Dhananjaya De Silva, that helped the Stallions to a comfortable 54-run win, after yet another slow start where they had found themselves 26 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. Then in a win against the Galle Gladiators, set up by the excellence of Wanindu Hasaranga, what should have been a comfortable chase was made a little nervy by the loss of a flurry of late wickets.But on other occasions – albeit after semifinal qualification was secured, and complacency may have set in – these blips and lapses in concentration have been rather more costly. The Stallions’ first loss of the tournament could have been a lot more devastating had it not been for a Hasaranga cameo late-on that helped put up a semi-competitive target of 149. In their loss to the Viiking, it was Shoaib Malik’s 44-ball 59 that would get them up to 150. While in their final loss of the tournament, a late thrust by Thisara and co wasn’t enough to overhaul a gettable target of 174, after the top and middle order had let the required rate get away from them.Even in their 37-run semifinal win over the Viiking, if not for Hasaranga’s golden arm and Usman Shinwari’s laser-guided throws, it could have all been so different.Dhananjaya de Silva and Thisara Perera put on a rapid century stand•LPL
In fact, the only game you could say they were in control almost throughout was their opening encounter, incidentally against their finals opponents the Gladiators. Save for some vintage Shahid Afridi pyrotechnics, the Stallions had the best of proceedings, making light work of a 176 target, cruising home with eight wickets in hand.But if you listen to Stallions skipper Perera, this seeming dependence on individual performances is more by design than chance. Indeed, with a batting lineup that snakes along all the way to No.8, and a plethora of all-rounders to call on either with the bat or ball, Perera’s confidence that someone will deliver on the day doesn’t seem all that misplaced.”We can’t predict what will happen out there, when you will need to come in to bat etc. But at all times we try and do what we think is best for the team – you’re not always going to get it right though,” Thisara said on the eve of the final.”But I do expect our batting to click far more than it did in the semifinal, we bat deep because we have a lot of allrounders. So all we need is even one or two from the top eight – like Johnson Charles the other day – to hit form.”T20 cricket is also geared in such a way that it can very easily turn into a ‘one-man show,’ where any bowler or batsman can take the game away from you. For us the most important thing is to play each ball on its merits. If we plan too much also, I don’t think it’ll be a successful strategy. We need to constantly reevaluate the situation from over to over.”This ability to make decisions on the fly will undoubtedly come in handy when they take on a Gladiators side that has changed considerably since the Stallions’ group stage encounters against them. Those games saw the Stallions’ batters find proceedings as comfortable as they had at any point across the tournament, though they will be keenly aware of the improvements the Gladiators have undergone since those early tussles.”At no point will we underestimate our opponents, I said this before the semi-final as well. It really comes to which team on the day makes the least amount of mistakes.”If there are any concerns for the Stallions, it would be with regard to their tendency to sometimes lose wickets in clusters, while their running between the wickets hasn’t showered them in glory either.”There’s not much you can do about it (run outs) sometimes, because it depends on the talent of the fielder and whether they can execute their skills at that time. But of course batsmen need to be mindful as well, because if we don’t call properly then that can lead to misunderstandings in the middle. That’s also part of the game though, mistakes happen, so we shouldn’t dwell too much on it.”[In terms of our batting] we’re confident going into the final, even if we might have a slight problem to address in terms of losing wickets in quick succession. But the most important thing is that we collectively put in a performance on the day, as a team – cricket is after all a team game.”In the last game our top order gave us a good start, but our middle order wasn’t able to capitalise on it – but in the same vein in previous games the middle order has bailed us out after the top order failed. This is why I think, as a team we’re in a good place, and we’re looking forward to the final.”
Tabraiz Shamsi stars with three wickets as South Africa are out-muscled in tight finish
George Dobell29-Nov-2020Dawid Malan justified his standing as the top-ranked batsman in T20I cricket with a match-winning half-century in the second match of the series against South Africa in Paarl.On a surface upon which nobody else could pass 30, Malan produced an innings of 55 from 40 balls to see England to a victory which gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The final game takes place in Cape Town on Tuesday.This was not, in many ways, a typical T20. With the pitch offering just a little grip, run-scoring proved problematic throughout the game and England’s reply looked some way off the pace until well into their chase.So, instead of the skills for which this format is famed – the big hits, the audacious strokes, the outrageous strike-rates – Malan was instead obliged to demonstrate a calm head and an ability to pace the innings.He did so beautifully. After 30 deliveries, Malan had scored just 25. But he held his nerve and, from his next nine balls, thrashed five fours and a six as he timed England’s chase to something close to perfection.Although he wasn’t quite able to see England home – he was quite brilliantly caught by Reeza Hendricks, demonstrating both the presence of mind and athleticism to keep the ball in play on the long-off boundary – by the time he was dismissed, his side required just a run a ball. Despite a characteristically excellent final over from Kagiso Rabada, which brought the dismissal of Sam Curran, Chris Jordan was able to squeeze the penultimate ball of the match behind square for the run England required to seal the result.It was the ninth time Malan had passed 50 in his 18 T20I innings. And, on the ground where he made his first-class debut back in 2006, you suspect it would have been one of the more satisfying ones. It was also the sort of performance which justifies his on-going selection ahead of Joe Root.And while England may feel there is still room for improvement in their performance, they may take satisfaction from winning a tight game on this sort of surface. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to played in India, this is the sort of pitch – and, perhaps, the sort of low-scoring match – to which they will need to become accustomed if they are to fulfil their dream of holding both the 50-over and 20-over World Cups at the same time.Slow going
South Africa started well enough. They were 49 for 1 after one delivery of the sixth over (England were 29 for 1 at the same stage) and surely targeting a score in excess of 160. But their over-reliance upon Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis was underlined once more by the struggles of the middle-order.Once de Kock was dismissed, from the second delivery of that final powerplay over, South Africa only managed two boundaries off the bat in the next 12-and-a-half overs (there was one set of wides that went to the boundary) and none at all from the first ball of the 10th until the fourth ball of the 18th. Rassie van der Dussen, who faced 29 deliveries for 25 unbeaten runs without managing a boundary, found life especially difficult.Inevitably, thoughts strayed to what might have been, had the likes of AB de Villiers, Rilee Rossouw and Colin Ingram been part of this middle-order.Archer and Rashid re-affirm their value
Perhaps such an analysis of South Africa’s innings is unfair as it doesn’t reflect the slower-than-expected surface or provide enough credit to England’s bowlers. Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid, in particular, bowled beautifully in conceding 41 between them from their eight overs. The pair delivered 22 dot balls between them and only conceded one boundary each.Archer’s record is, perhaps, particularly impressive as he tends to bowl the majority of his overs in the powerplay – he typically bowls two upfront – and at the death. Despite this, since the start of the IPL, he has conceded just 4.62 runs an over on average in the 30 overs of powerplay overs he has delivered.Whatever issues England may have to resolve ahead of the T20 World Cup, those two spots are, fitness permitting, certain.The record holders
Both Jordan and Rashid achieved records of sorts during the South Africa innings. With the wicket of de Kock, Jordan drew level with Stuart Broad as England’s top wicket-taker in this international format. Both men have now have 65 with Jordan having slightly the better strike-rate but Broad maintaining the better average and economy rate.Rashid, meanwhile, drew level with Graeme Swann as England’s top T20I wicket-taker among spinners. Both have 51 wickets, with only Jordan and Broad above them among England players. A glance at those stats also provides a reminder of what a top player Swann was for England: his wickets came in a dozen fewer games than Rashid and with a favourable economy rate (6.36 to 7.57), average (16.84 to 25.41) and strike-rate (15.80 to 20.10). The game may well have moved on, but those remain excellent statistics.Impressive though such figures are, England still do not have anyone within the top 10 of T20I wicket takers. Lasith Malinga, with 107 wickets, leads the way.Shamsi’s best
Tabraiz Shamsi didn’t deserve to be on the losing side after a career-best T20I performance.Shamsi, the left-arm wristspinner, claimed 3 for 19 as he made excellent use of a large playing area that made six-hitting more problematic than in the first game, and a surface offering just enough grip to aid his spin. In dismissing Jos Buttler, who was beaten by drift as he charged down the pitch, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, who both mishit sweeps, he went a long way towards derailing England’s reply.The decision to recall Anrich Nortje in place of Beuran Hendricks, who delivered a game-defining 17th over on Friday which conceded 28 runs, also added depth to the South Africa attack. Nortje bowled with pace and precision in conceding just four from his first two overs and twice striking Malan on the body.
Alisha Lehmann was thrilled to return home in her native Switzerland where she was reunited with her "beautiful" horse following international duty.
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Lehmann represent Swiss in Euro 2025 qualifierAston Villa star returns home to Switzerland Forward reunited with her "beautiful" horseWHAT HAPPENED?
Following Switzerland's 1-0 loss awayto Hungary on Tuesday, the Aston Villa star returned to more familiar surroundings a day later. In an Instagram story, she filmed her horse being looked after in her local stables – and she was clearly delighted to see her beloved animal once again.
AdvertisementWHAT ALISHA LEHMANN SAID
In the video, Lehmann says: "I am back home. Look how beautiful my horse is."
InstagramTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Lehmann is enjoying some downtime after a long season for Aston Villa and Switzerland. The 25-year-old will have a few weeks off before returning for international duty in their last two Euro 2025 qualifying games. However, they are hosting the tournament so it is not the be all and end all if they lose these upcoming fixtures.
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT?
Switzerland round off their qualifying campaign away to second-placed Turkey on July 12 and at home to bottom of the table Azerbaijan four days later. If they beat Turkey, who they have a three-point lead over at the top of Group B1 in League B, they will be promoted to League A.
Supernovas needed 19 off the last over and Harmanpreet struck four fours but they weren’t enough
The Report by Annesha Ghosh06-May-2019Two big stars of Indian women’s cricket took centrestage in Jaipur as the multi-team Women’s T20 Challenge kicked off with a final-ball thriller, much like how the one-off exhibition game had ended in Mumbai last year. Except this time, Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana’s enterprising 90 trumped her opposite number Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 46 as Supernovas fell short by an agonising two runs.Chasing 19 off the last over, Harmanpreet nearly pulled off an encore of her performance on her Lancashire Thunder debut at last year’s Kia Super League, when she struck a last-ball six in a chase, carting Jhulan Goswami for four fours off the first five balls, the last one landing only inside the rope. Needing three off the last ball, Harmanpreet slashed hard but couldn’t connect with the length ball outside off, and the attempted bye ended with wicketkeeper R Kalpana catching non-striker Lea Tahuhu short of her ground at her end.The near-perfect Harman-Devine showWhen Harmanpreet walked in at No. 4 after eight overs, Supernovas’ asking rate (7.16) was only a shade above their run rate 6.87. With Trailblazers shelling several chances, little suggested Mandhana’s side won’t have to pay for the drops. Keeping to her scratchy-at-first-sublime-thereafter template, Harmanpreet scored six off her first 10 balls. An unforgiving punch off Harleen Deol in the 12th over fetched Harmanpreet the first of her eight fours, the same number collected by the six other Supernovas batsmen.During her 48-run stand with No. 6 Sophie Devine, Harmanpreet was off the strike for the major part as Devine herself, with her 22-ball 32, looked set to hand Trailblazers the finality. Having taken Supernovas to 122, Devine was trapped in front by Sophie Ecclestone. Devine used the review, the first of the tournament, but it wasn’t overturned. The dismissal, eventually, proved a match-winning one as Ecclestone rounded out her 20th birthday with 2 for 11 that played a key role in victory for her side.Below-par fielding a worry for TrailblazersA misfield in the third over from Deepti Sharma handed Jemimah Rodrigues her first four. In the sixth, Deepti dropped the same batsman on 16, the ball popping out of her hands over her head at mid-on after she got both hands to it, and it was just the start of more telling shoddiness that was to follow.Chamari Atapattu got two lives in the eighth over, bowled by Shakera Selman. Stafanie Taylor first put down a straightforward chance at deep square leg on the first ball before D Hemalatha ran in hard from sweeper cover two balls later, but couldn’t hold on despite getting her hands under the ball.The first drop had Mandhana clutch her knees, the second brought out a huge sigh (of disbelief) from Selman. But then came a moment of brilliance, courtesy Selman herself. Anticipating the striker Atapattu’s call for a quick single on the leg side, Selman swooped in while carrying on from her follow-through, and put in a full-length forward-stretch to fire a direct hit at the wicketkeeper’s end to catch Rodrigues well short of her ground, for a 19-ball 24.The drop that nearly cost them the game came in the 17th over. Harmanpreet, on 25, launched Taylor down the ground, where Hemalatha went to her left from long-on and shelled her second catch of the night. Four drops, yet ending on the winning side? Trailblazers should be thanking their stars captain.Mandhana magic: sedate and scintillatingMandhana lived up to her reputation with an uncharacteristic 67-ball 90, her second-highest T20 score.If her maiden T20 ton, for Western Storm in KSL 2018, against Harmanpreet’s Lancashire Thunder was all menace, the magic took time to unfold on Monday. It wasn’t until the 35th ball of her innings that Mandhana’s strike rate touched 100. That was largely down to Harmanpreet persisting with spin for the major part of that period, and Mandhana’s early struggle was borne out in the seven runs she scored off her Maharashtra team-mate Anuja Patil, the offspinner. Her first two fours – in a combined tally of 10 fours and three sixes – came 23 balls apart.As she loves pace on the ball, the four she broke her shackles with came off the first delivery bowled by Tahuhu. Thereafter, her willow oozed the class the 22-year-old is famed for. The highlight of her 119-run second-wicket stand with Deol (36 off 44) was the six – the first of the match – off wristpinner Poonam Yadav that floated over the extra cover boundary. Dragging her side to a respectable total has become second-nature to Mandhana in the recent past, thanks to India’s middle-order woes. But on Monday, her knock also cushioned her side amid an otherwise deplorable fielding performance.
Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen produced a scintillating second-wicket century stand, upon which was founded yet another comfortable South Africa win. The hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series with this 16-run victory in Pretoria, but don’t let that margin fool you. Sri Lanka never seemed to have the measure of their target of 181.Sri Lanka’s No. 8 batsman Isuru Udana produced another magnificent show of lower-order hitting, walloping six sixes and eight fours in his unbeaten 48-ball 84. But even when he arrived at the crease, the required run rate was almost 12 an over. He managed to get Sri Lanka only within sight of the target, without ever really threatening it. Nevertheless, Udana has perhaps batted his way into a World Cup berth, having been good with the bat right throughout these South Africa limited-overs series.But it was really the 116-run stand between Hendricks and van der Dussen that was the centrepiece of South Africa’s victory. The partnership began with a boundary – van der Dussen crashing the last ball of the second over through the covers. Despite a quiet Powerplay, the stand blossomed between overs seven and 14 – South Africa travelling at over ten an over through that period. Thisara Perera, in particular, came in for punishment – van der Dussen clobbering a six over midwicket in his first over, before repeating the treatment twice in his second – an over that went for 19 runs in all.While van der Dussen was clearing the rope, though, Hendricks was lacing wayward balls through the infield, prospering through the covers in particular, where he hit four of his nine boundaries, but also through backward point and midwicket, where he hit the other five. Several of those boundaries came off genuinely good balls – Hendricks using his wrists to manufacture powerful strokes.Hendricks brought up his half-century off the 38th delivery he faced, cutting a Kamindu Mendis slow left-arm delivery powerfully behind point for four. Van der Dussen got to the milestone next over, off the 34th ball, and just when it started looking like the pair were setting South Africa up for a truly gargantuan score, Lasith Malinga injected himself into the attack, and had Hendricks hole out to mid-off, with a slower ball. He was out for 65 off 49 balls.Van der Dussen hit one more four, swatting Udana through midwicket on the 16th over, bowled by Udana. But he was himself out not long after when he ran at Akila Dananjaya, yorked himself and was bowled.The death overs for South Africa were largely handled by Duminy. David Miller was present at the other end, but struggled against Sri Lanka’s slower balls, and wound up only with a run-a-ball nine. Duminy, meanwhile, was industrious right throughout his innings, socking Udana over cover for four off the eighth delivery he faced, before hitting one more four and two sixes in his 17-ball 33 not out.In response, Sri Lanka were more or less pathetic in the first 14 overs, surrendering seven wickets and allowing the required run rate to climb over 14 an over. Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis both departed in the first over of the chase – Dale Steyn rushing Avishka with his pace before grazing Kusal’s off stump with an outswinger.At one stage, Chris Morris was even on a hat-trick, having had Niroshan Dickwella caught at mid-on before nicking Kamindu Mendis off the first ball. But Morris wasn’t the only South Africa bowler who was threatening the Sri Lanka batsmen. Dwaine Pretorius took 1 for 22, while Tabraiz Shamsi claimed 2 for 16 from his four overs. Opening bowlers Steyn and Morris had wreaked the most damage though, taking a combined five wickets.Udana’s outstanding lower-order hitting helped narrow the gap, but Sri Lanka’s top order was once again been unable to resist the South Africa bowlers – even those from a depleted attack. The next-best score after Udana’s was Thisara’s 22 as no batsman appeared capable of attacking for a significant length of time.
There was only one winner in the battle between India’s opening bowler and Australia’s opening batsman
Andrew McGlashan18-Jan-2019Aaron Finch is having a season to forget and is now on a run of one half-century in 23 international innings across all formats. He has admitted he needs a break, but at the moment that won’t come until April after the away series against India and Pakistan.His ODI summer ended with a tally of 83 runs in six innings against South Africa and India and it came to an end in a manner that has become very familiar in this one-day series: dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Here’s a recap of a contest that has only gone one way.Bhuvneshwar Kumar v Aaron Finch this series•ESPNcricinfo LtdSydney: b Bhuvneshwar 6Adelaide: b Bhuvneshwar 6Melbourne: lbw Bhuvneshwar 14After this match Finch will be available for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash. Whether he regains form or not, it won’t be long before battle is rejoined with Bhuvneshwar when Australia travel to India in late February.
He is yet to be a 100%, but he continues to stay with the team in hope that he is fit for the Sydney Test where spin might play a bigger role
Sidharth Monga in Melbourne25-Dec-2018
AFP
In a year of near misses, in their own words, India enter their last big Test without their No. 1 spinner, R Ashwin. He injured himself on the fourth evening of the Adelaide Test, aggravated it on the fifth, and was not fit for the Perth Test. He is yet to be a 100%, but he continues to stay with the team in hope that he is fit for the Sydney Test where spin might play a bigger role.This is the fourth Test Ashwin is missing out of the 11 India have played away from home this year. It points both to India’s horses-for-courses policy, and Ashwin’s issues with injuries. He was left out of the Johannesburg Test because India wanted to go with four quicks, then played in Southampton when not fully fit and was subsequently left out of The Oval Test, a dead rubber, with a groin strain. Here in Australia, he wouldn’t have played in Perth even if he had been fit because captain Virat Kohli said he wanted to play four quicks anyway.In away Tests this year, Ashwin has averaged over 30 and has gone at 2.38 runs an over. He is one of the three bowlers to have bowled over 300 overs in away matches this year. Overall, Ashwin has been the biggest match-winner in this XI; in conditions outside Asia and the West Indies, he slots just behind Kohli and the fast bowlers. He is especially effective against Australia considering the number of left-hand batsmen in their batting line-up. It is not just the overs he has put in, but runs down the order too that India will miss. His partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara was crucial to the win in Adelaide.India began the year with anticipation built around a pace attack that promised much and was bolstered further by the introduction of Jasprit Bumrah into the mix. Ashwin was also expected to play a big part in keeping them fresh and chipping in whenever the pitch gave him an opening. It is a job he has done more or less, except in Southampton when India risked him despite lack of full fitness.India have lost the two other big series this year. If they lose the next Test, they will not be able to win this one either. They go into this match with two new openers – one of them makeshift – and without their main spinner. In the absence of KL Rahul, they will also have to rejig their slip cordon, with Kohli possibly moving to the gun position, second slip, and Rohit Sharma slotting into the third. Pujara should continue at first slip.
Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal, a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket, has received his maiden call-up in international cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-20182:24
Dasgupta: Agarwal and Siraj earned their call-ups
Shikhar Dhawan and Karun Nair have been dropped from the Indian team that will play West Indies in a two-match Test series starting October 4. This means India will try their fifth opening combination of the year with one of Mayank Agarwal or Prithvi Shaw making their Test debut when they walk out alongside KL Rahul in Rajkot next week.Virat Kohli will return to captain India after a three-week break. He’ll have to make do with many of the team’s first choice bowlers unavailable. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested. Ishant Sharma, who picked up an ankle injury during the Oval Test earlier this month, and Hardik Pandya, who suffered back spasms in the Asia Cup, were not considered for selection. In their absence, Mohammed Siraj was called up to the Test side for the first time. The 24-year old seamer from Hyderabad is in red-hot form having picked up 40 wickets in nine first-class innings, including an 11-for against Australia A.India’s Test squad for the series against West Indies•ESPNcricinfo Ltd
Dhawan’s axe came on the back of a poor series in England, where he managed a top score of only 44 in eight innings. Nair, meanwhile, did not get to play in any of the five Tests, and as it happened in the final one at the Oval, he seems to have lost out in a race with reserve batsman Hanuma Vihari.
With India needing an opener, Agarwal finally got his reward for a prolific 2017-18 season in which he scored 2253 runs in 36 innings across formats. The 27-year old from Karnataka was a consistent performer for the A team as well, both on tour in England and at home, when he played against Australia A and South Africa A. He also scored 90 off 111 deliveries against the West Indians in the warm-up game earlier on Saturday.ESPNcricinfo Ltd
R Ashwin, who recently struggled with a hip injury, will lead India’s spin attack again, alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur round off the fast-bowling resources. Ajinkya Rahane, who has only two half-centuries in his last ten innings, remains vice-captain, while Rishabh Pant, who became the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a hundred in England, retained the gloves.
When legendary coach Bill Belichick took the North Carolina job on Dec. 11, a prominent unspoken question from fans and observers was how he would fit in at a school where basketball is king.
On Friday, an answer was reportedly given: just fine.
According to a Friday afternoon report from Ross Martin of 247Sports and CBS Sports, Belichick is buying free pizzas for the Tar Heels' fraternities ahead of their men's basketball showdown with No. 2 Duke Saturday afternoon.
"Coach Belichick wants to get your fraternity pizza for the UNC vs. Duke game tomorrow at 6:30 PM," the email from North Carolina director of football operations Alec Kerr obtained by Martin reads. "With that being said, our plan is to deliver the pizzas on behalf of Coach Belichick to your house."
it's a savvy move from Belichick to drum up interest in his program—and a tacit acknowledgement of which sport will always rule the roost in Chapel Hill, N.C.
All that's left to do is see whether the Tar Heels—13.5-point underdogs to the Blue Devils—can deliver on Belichick's culinary investment.