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Craig Ervine’s maiden Test ton and 148-run sixth-wicket stand with debutant Peter Moor took Zimbabwe to within 77 runs of avoiding the follow-on

The Report by Firdose Moonda in Bulawayo08-Aug-2016Stumps
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:58

By the numbers – Ervine’s ton and Moor’s record on debut

Zimbabwe celebrate their heroes on August 8, and in Craig Ervine they certainly found one. His maiden Test ton and 148-run sixth-wicket stand with debutant PJ Moor took Zimbabwe to within 78 runs of avoiding the follow-on. Perhaps more crucially, he frustrated a New Zealand attack that now has a maximum of two days – could be lesser if the visitors have to bat – to take 14 wickets and on a flat Queens Sports Club surface.In their favour is the fact that New Zealand have discovered the best way to break through – reverse swing. With the second new ball that is more than 30 overs old, they may start looking for it again early on fourth morning. When they found it with their first ball, they made life uncomfortable for the Zimbabwean line-up, who were suffocated with close fields to the spinners.With just eight Tests under his belt, Ervine, the most experienced of Zimbabwe’s line-up going into this match, played the way a senior should. His approach combined caution with clever stroke-play and ensured the scoreboard kept ticking over. Zimbabwe scored 250 runs on the day, 120 in the final session alone. The dismissal of Moor for 71 in the last half hour lifted the morale of the visitors, who were run ragged after a spirited start.Ervine was needed after Zimbabwe’s openers – Chamu Chibhabha and Tino Mawoyo – gave the team their best start in 13 Tests, over five years, with a 65-run stand. Chibhabha was lucky to survive a confident shout off a Trent Boult delivery that tailed back in late. There was a bat-pad noise which may have put umpire Paul Reiffel off.His opening partner Mawoyo appeared to be better equipped to play defensively and bullishly. He fronted up to Neil Wagner’s short-ball strategy before inside-edging a drive onto the stumps.After they were separated, Sikandar Raza, batting at No. 3 in place of the injured Hamilton Masakadza, squandered an opportunity to present his case further. By then, a spell of uncertainty had been woven into the Zimbabwean mindset. For 9.3 overs, Raza looked to have put away his aggressive streak but then drove lazily at a wide Wagner delivery with no foot movement to give Kane Williamson at gully a present on his 26th birthday.Chibhabha, for all his fidgeting, had shown ability to occupy the crease. He fought his way to fifty and looked like he would see out the opening session. But Williamson’s decision to introduce spin in the form of Mitchell Santner paid off as Chibhabha drove with hard hands to find short cover.New Zealand could have had one more in the opening session when Southee tempted Ervine to drive, only to see Ross Taylor grass an opportunity in the slips. Instead, they had to wait until after the break when Prince Masvaure brought about his own dismissal as the ball bounced back off a half-hearted defense to hit leg stump.That brought Zimbabwe’s most assured pair of Ervine and Sean Williams together. While they were watchful, they also cashed in when the bad balls came their way. Williams, fresh off a century in the previous Test, was in sparkling form till he was adjudged lbw off a premeditated reverse-sweep against Ish Sodhi.After a period of settling in, Moor scored freely, especially off the second new ball, which became available with 25 minutes left in the session. But Williamson, who waited until there were only 10 overs left before taking it, may need to wait a little longer before it brings rewards.

Kieron Pollard led the Barbados Tridents to a 17-run victory over St Lucia Zouks with an all-round show in the first match of the inaugural Caribbean Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShoaib Malik’s 51-ball 78 set the tone for Barbados’ innings•Getty Images

In the lead-up to the first match of the Caribbean Premier League, there were reports of protests in Barbados over the appointment of Kieron Pollard, a Trinidadian, as captain of the Barbados Tridents. But Pollard’s unbeaten half-century and three-wicket haul in the 17-run win against St Lucia Zouks on Tuesday is likely to have added to his growing legion of fans.After Barbados, having chosen to bat first, were reduced to 48 for 4, Pollard played the perfect foil to an aggressive Shoaib Malik, as the pair added 88 runs off 61 balls. Malik, who was named the Player of the Match, raced to his 50 off just 35 balls, and smashed a six and two fours off pacer Nelon Pascal in the 15th over. Once Malik perished for 78 in the 18th over, going for a slog off Tino Best, Pollard stepped up with the big shots, hitting 28 runs off the last two overs to take Barbados to 169 for 5.St Lucia, in reply, got off to a good start, as the openers Tamim Iqbal and Andre Fletcher had a 57-run stand. Having powered to 77 for 1 off seven overs, St Lucia were in a good position and the match was theirs to lose. They went on to do exactly that, as the wicket of Fletcher in the 12th over sparked a mini-collapse and the visitors went on to lose their remaining eight wickets for 57 runs.Struggling at 105 for 5, Darren Sammy briefly raised St Lucia’s hopes with a 16-ball 35, belting four fours and two sixes, but found himself running out of partners as the asking rate mounted. Pollard struck twice in the 18th over to dismiss Misbah-ul-Haq and Shane Shillingford, while Jason Holder dismissed Sammy and Tino Best off consecutive balls in the 19th over. Pollard sealed the win with a wicket in the final over, to end with match figures of 2.4- 0-15-3.

New Zealand Cricket will be a beneficiary of the ICC’s Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP), and will receive US$1.8 million over a period of three years

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2013New Zealand Cricket will be a beneficiary of the ICC’s Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP), and will receive US$1.8 million over a period of three years. The programme is geared towards developing more competitive teams among the ICC’s Full and Associate/Affiliate Members. New Zealand are currently No.8 in both the Test and ODI rankings. The decision was made at the meeting of the ICC board in Dubai. The first Full members to receive ICC funding as part of the TAPP were West Indies and Zimbabwe last year.”The New Zealand Cricket initiative will focus on a programme of ‘A’ Team cricket and the development of coaching and sports science expertise,” an ICC release stated.The TAPP programme, which formed part of the ICC’s strategic plan for 2011-2015, began at the start of last year, with a $12m fund aimed at giving teams at all levels a chance to generate funding support from the ICC in order to improve team performance.Ireland and Scotland were the first to receive TAPP assistance in June last year, at the end of the ICC’s annual conference in Kuala Lumpur, with an award of $500,000 per annum for three years.
Countries that would like to receive funding are asked to go through a bidding process starting with a formal application that could lead up to a possible presentation, before the award is recommended by the ICC’s finance and commercial affairs committee to the board. The ICC then works with the board to develop a three-year MOU to detail the specific activities to be supported by the funding.The increasing number of domestic T20 leagues was also discussed at the meeting and the board agreed that further deliberations must be aimed at “attaining co-existence between domestic T20 leagues and the international game”. “Domestic Twenty20 leagues have provided so many opportunities for players and officials alike as well as entertaining large domestic crowds,” the release quoted the ICC chief executive David Richardson as saying. “A workable and balanced international playing calendar is key to the sustainability of the game.”In an interview with ESPNcricinfo in October last year, Richardson said, “there has to be a way to make sure that they [domestic T20 leagues] can exist and complement international cricket rather than destroy or cannibalise it.”The next ICC Annual Conference will be held in London in June this year.The ICC Board consists of the president or chairman from each of the 10 Full members plus three Associate member representatives. Also present at ICC Board meetings is the ICC President, who chairs proceedings, the ICC Vice-President and the ICC Chief Executive.

Michael Klinger made a battling century but it was not enough to prevent Western Australia from taking a 53-run first-innings lead over South Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2011
Scorecard
Michael Klinger held South Australia’s innings together•Getty Images

Michael Klinger made a battling century but it was not enough to prevent Western Australia from taking a 53-run first-innings lead over South Australia in their Sheffield Shield encounter at the WACA. Western Australia then extended the lead to 73 before the end of play, losing opener Liam Davis for 4 in the process.Klinger and James Smith began positively on the second morning, stretching their partnership to 92 before Michael Hogan snuck one through Smith’s defence to bowl him for 66. That sparked a minor collapse, with the next four wickets falling for the addition of just 35 runs, with Ryan Duffield picking up two wickets. Klinger continued to provide resistance and found enough support in Graham Manou (25) and Nathan Lyon (37) down the order to reach his hundred, but was promptly trapped leg-before by Nathan Coulter-Nile. Left-arm spinner Michael Beer then picked up two wickets, to help wrap up South Australia’s innings for 271. Duffield was the best of the bowlers, finishing with 4 for 56.Western Australia lost Davis early but Marcus Harris and Beer, who came in as nightwatchman, batted out the remaining overs without incident.

South Africa know that Pakistan present them with an unpredictable challenge and they want to use the series as a way of testing their skills against a subcontinental team

Firdose Moonda25-Oct-2010The last time South Africa played cricket in the United Arab Emirates was in Sharjah ten years ago. There, they lost to Pakistan by 16 runs in the final of a one-day tri-series that also included India. That South African side included the likes of Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener and Herschelle Gibbs, and was captained by Hansie Cronje on the eve of his fall from grace.The South African cricketing landscape has undergone major changes in the last decade. Only Jacques Kallis remains a part of the ODI squad from that day in March 2000, and he is a doubtful starter for the latest mission to the Middle East. Kallis has been out of action for over a month with a neck injury, and will be assessed by the South African medical staff ahead of the two Twenty20s against Pakistan.The rest of the squad will be getting their first taste of cricket in the desert. Not only will the conditions be much warmer than what they are used to, but the schedule much more crammed. Two T20s, five ODIS and two tests have been packed into four weeks. The players left for UAE on Sunday and have only had a day to acclimatise before diving headfirst into the action. “We are not going to have a lot of time to get used to conditions so I hope we will be able to sum them up pretty quickly. We have to be versatile and be able to adapt,” said ODI captain Graeme Smith during the whitewash of Zimbabwe that South Africa completed last week.The matches against Zimbabwe were largely regarded as a warm-up to a season that includes a home series against India and culminates in the World Cup. Smith felt that the victories against Zimbabwe have sent them to the UAE well-prepared in all departments. “The confidence base is good, our batters got time in the middle and bowlers progressively got better. We’ve done all the hard work ahead of this series.”South Africa experimented with new players against Zimbabwe, with Colin Ingram and Rusty Theron making their debuts. It is all part of Operation World Cup, which involves selecting a team that can finally end South Africa’s ICC trophy drought. There are no brand new faces for the Pakistan series, indicating that the focus is now on preparing the players that have been used so far. Coach Corrie van Zyl said he didn’t know if the squad for this series can be labelled the final fifteen. “That is a question I would like you to ask Andrew Hudson (chairman of selectors),” joked van Zyl at the team’s departure press conference on Sunday.Ingram and Theron settled into international cricket in outstanding fashion, with Ingram scoring a century on debut and Theron grabbing a five-for in his second ODI. Both staked their claim for a place in the team but face plenty of competition for their spots. Smith made it clear that if Ingram is used he “will play at five or six” as soon as Kallis is fit. Theron will have to do battle with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, both of whom are recovering from injuries.While the new faces are creating waves, there was a more familiar one, who was also entrusted with a new role, also in the spotlight. AB de Villiers looks certain to don the wicketkeeping gloves in the ODI side going forward and showed that he is capable of playing the dual role of keeper-batsman. Besides doing a decent job behind the stumps against Zimbabwe, he also scored back-to-back hundreds and is ranked the world’s top ODI player, according to the latest ICC rankings. Mark Boucher (who was also on the 2000 tour) is not taking being dropped lying down. He said losing the wicketkeeping role gutted him and he will fight to regain the spot.It is this type of inter-player competitiveness that Smith believes will decide the World Cup squad. “This series will give players the opportunity to stake claims. The coaching staff can have ideas for what they want to achieve tactically but ultimately it’s the players who put their hands up.”Although Smith is still the senior voice of South African cricket, he will spend the first two matches as just another player. Since relinquishing the T20 captaincy in August, Smith has played under Johan Botha in the shortest format, where he says he enjoys “relaxing on the boundary.” Smith will also give up the one-day captaincy after the World Cup and is using the time he has left in charge to “create the best environment I can so that we can be as successful as we can.”With all this introspection, it appears South Africa have given little thought to their opposition. In fact, they have been quietly trying to steer away from being bombarded with the one question that tails Pakistan like a cop behind a drunk-driver: What is your reaction to the spot-fixing controversy? Smith’s answer was typical PR speak, “I guess we are going to get this question quite a few times in the next month. For us, it’s important that we play the sport in the right spirit. It’s our job to go there and play competitive cricket and do our best. We have to trust in the ICC to lead the game. They are the main stakeholders and it’s important that they make the right decisions and we trust them to do that.”South Africa know that Pakistan present them with an unpredictable challenge and they want to use the series as a way of testing their skills against a subcontinental team. “This is our first taste of the subcontinent for the summer. It’s going to be important for the spinners to see how they are doing and also for the batsmen to see how they play spin. It’s a good way of getting the whole squad used to conditions ahead of the World Cup,” said Botha. South Africa play ten ODIs before the big tournament. The countdown starts here.

Jack Haynes’ unbeaten fifty seals chase as Durham lose ground in congested qualification race

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay11-Jul-2025Notts Outlaws kept their qualification hopes alive with a seven-wicket victory over Durham, who began the evening as marginal North Group leaders but ended it locked in a battle for the top four places that is still impossible to call.Chasing 157 to win on a slow pitch, Jack Haynes steered the Outlaws home with an unbeaten 55 off 40 balls with two sixes, backed up by Moises Henriques (43 off 33) and Joe Clarke (43 off 26), both of whom also cleared the ropes twice as Durham were beaten with eight balls to spare.Australian seamer Daniel Sams and offspinner Matt Montgomery, with a career-best 4 for 30, led for the Outlaws with the ball as Durham were all out for 156 in precisely 20 overs. Graham Clark passed 300 for the season with three sixes in his 27-ball 44, with finisher Jimmy Neesham making 29 off 17.Although they move on to 24 points, four behind Durham, the Outlaws’ chances are slightly more tenuous with just two matches left, while Durham have three to play.Clark cleared the ropes three times in the first four overs but Durham lost three wickets in the powerplay, left-handers Alex Lees and Ben McKinney falling to top-edges as they attempted to club Montgomery’s offspin over the short leg-side boundary before Haynes took a stunning, one-handed catch at mid-off as Colin Ackermann went without scoring, just a week after plundering 83 from 33 balls against Notts at Chester-le-Street.From 52 for 3 after six, Durham were 70 for 4 after 10 as the Outlaws spinners applied the brakes on a slow surface, the opening half of the innings concluding with Clark caught on the wide long-on boundary as Montgomery picked up a third wicket. A somewhat tortured 18 off 30 by Will Rhodes ended with a second brilliant catch by Haynes on the midwicket boundary as Durham reached 104 for 5 from 15.Ollie Robinson hit Montgomery straight to cover before Neesham and Kasey Aldridge blitzed 32 off 13 balls, some 21 coming off Calvin Harrison’s final over before Sams picked up his third with Aldridge missing a full, straight one and Ollie Stone ran all the way to the 30-yard circle to claim a superb caught-and-bowled as Potts departed.Neesham fell to another excellent boundary catch as Sams claimed his first four-wicket haul for Notts and Nathan Sowter was run out off the final ball of the innings but 52 from the last five overs gave Durham something to defend.They made a good start in that respect as Matty Potts had Freddie McCann caught behind and left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson conceded just seven in his two powerplay overs but Ackermann went for 21 as Clarke twice cleared the ropes on the offside but the Notts skipper fell for 43 attempting to scoop Aldridge in the eighth, he and Haynes adding 63 off 37 balls.The Outlaws were bang on the required rate at 79 for 2 from 10 and sensible batting by Haynes and Henriques brought the target down to 38 from the last 30 balls as Durham struggled to create a chance, the Australian allrounder clearing long-off for six off Aldridge and hauling another maximum off Neesham before slicing the same bowler to fall for 43.By then, though the Outlaws were well on track, Haynes completing his fifty from 38 balls before Tom Moores pulled Neesham for the winning boundary.

Queensland wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson talks about Swepson’s development as he’s set for a Test debut in Karachi

Andrew McGlashan11-Mar-2022Few people have had a better view of Mitchell Swepson’s development over the last few seasons than Queensland wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson.Peirson, who also captains Queensland when Usman Khawaja is away on Australia duty, is certain that Swepson is ready for the Test debut that will now come his way in Karachi on Saturday. After a week where the game has mourned the death of the greatest legspinner of them all, Shane Warne, it will be poignant when Swepson becomes cap No. 464.He will be just the second specialist legspinner to debut for Australia’s men’s Test team since Warne’s retirement, after Bryce McGain’s one-off appearance in 2009, having first toured with Australia on the 2017 trip to India.”I’ve kept to him a long time and when he was younger he’d probably give you two or three bad balls an over, but as he’s gone on, and particularly the last two seasons, you just don’t get bad balls from him very often,” Peirson told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s unbelievable consistency and he’s bowling all his variations and landing them exactly where he wants to. You pair that up with his cricket knowledge, how he’s understanding his game and how to play certain scenarios, and I think he’s starting to become the full package.”Swepson enjoyed a breakout season in 2020-21 when he claimed 32 wickets at 23.40 in five Sheffield Shield matches to help Queensland to the title. This summer was tougher with just a single wicket from the two Shield matches he was able to play while being part of the T20 World Cup and Ashes squads – he only bowled two overs against New South Wales – alongside claiming four wickets for Australia A against England Lions in December.But it was the three matches in the Adelaide-based hub at the start of last season, where Swepson claimed 23 wickets and twice bowled Queensland to final-day victories and almost another against New South Wales, that gave an indication of the bowler he had developed into.”At the Gabba he probably doesn’t get the spin he would usually get, he gets the bounce which is also his friend, but playing a lot more games down south, and on day three, day four wickets which have started to deteriorate he’s come into his own,” Peirson said. “It’s fantastic to see that, knowing that if he does get the conditions then he’ll be really dangerous for Australia.”Swepson’s economy rate of under three an over is also eye-catching but Peirson always sees him as a wicket-taking option although Pat Cummins did note how he believed Swepson would be able to do a holding role.”First and foremost, Swepo is your attacking option, that’s why you are playing a legspinner,” Peirson said. “He’s not like a fingerspinner, he’s not holding as the quicks attack from one end, he’s coming on to take wickets. That’s how we’ve used him in Queensland and I think how he will be used moving forward in most teams he plays for. When he’s attacking, setting good fields and the ball is spinning, the scoreboard will naturally stop because he’s bowling so consistently.Having a frontline legspinner as part of a twin-spin attack will be another new chapter in Cummins’ young captaincy career as well, but Peirson has seen enough of Swepson to know he can also look after himself in the middle. He and Cummins will also have the benefit of Khawaja at close quarters.”That’s why he’s such a lovely spinner to have in the team because he knows what he wants to do,” he said. “He’s right at the top of his game in that sense with his skills and how he mentally approaches the game with his tactics. He’s someone who is a pleasure to captain and keep to because he knows what he needs to do.”Sure we can come up with ideas with him, but he has a very clear idea of how he wants to start his spell and that’s really refreshing as a captain. Then you can work together as the day goes on. He’s a forward-thinking spinner. He’s been around Nathan Lyon for a long time and has learnt so much.””It will be a new one for Pat to work out how to best use those guys. We’ve played two spinners before for Queensland and Uzzie was captain so he certainly has the knowledge of how he used Swepo and he’s someone Pat can lean on. I’m intrigued as a viewer to see how they use him.”

ECB says all 18 first-class counties have agreed to play in the same red-ball and white-ball competitions

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2020First-class counties in the UK will compete for the Bob Willis Trophy in a four-day competition as part of a shortened 2020 domestic season, the ECB has confirmed.The ECB said on Friday that all 18 first-class counties had agreed to play in the same competitive red- and white-ball competitions, following a delayed start to the season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.As reported by ESPNcricinfo in May, the four-day competition will feature three regional groups of six teams who will each contest five first-class games with a five-day final expected to be played at Lord’s. The winner will claim the Bob Willis trophy, named after the former England captain who died in December. A shortened Vitality Blast competition will begin on August 27.ALSO READ: County Championship could include Lord’s final with hopes for August startNeil Snowball, ECB managing director of county cricket, said in a statement on Friday that the counties had “been united with a common goal to get back to our core function of playing cricket”.”The commitment of the chairs and chief executives of the first-class counties to work together to achieve that ambition has been resolute and we will remain in close discussion as we continue to assess risk factors that need to be mitigated in order to ensure the safety and welfare of their players, coaches and staff,” Snowball said.”We are all delighted that agreement has been reached across the game and we are now in a position to look forward to and prepare for a new men’s domestic season starting on 1 August.”ESPNcricinfo understands that the counties voted by a narrow margin to play first-class and T20 cricket in the abbreviated season while some, including Hampshire, held safety concerns about hotel stays and voted to start the season with a 50-over competition and not play first-class cricket in 2020.Venues would contact ticket holders for men’s domestic matches and first-class county members to inform them of the options available to them after a new fixture schedule has been announced, the ECB said.