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Captain scores career-best alongside return to form for Lions batsman

ECB Reporters Network16-Sep-2019Nottinghamshire 425 for 6 (Mullaney 179, Clarke 125) v Warwickshire
Centuries from Steven Mullaney and Joe Clarke enabled Nottinghamshire to deliver their best batting performance since early April in their Specsavers County Championship meeting with Warwickshire at Trent Bridge.The pair added 205 for the third wicket as Notts played with the freedom of a side whose fate has already been decided. Their defeat last week to Kent means that they’ll be playing second-tier cricket next season. That, coupled with their qualification for this weekend’s Vitality Blast Finals Day, enabled Notts to ring the changes and pile on the runs.By stumps they had reached 425 for 6 after being invited to bat first, their highest score of the season.Mullaney scored a career-best 179, from 173 deliveries, with 26 fours and five sixes. The Notts’ club captain, who has recently returned to the side after knee surgery, was crestfallen last week as the drop was confirmed. He shrugged off that disappointment to plunder boundaries all around Trent Bridge from a Bears attack that kept offering him the width to pepper the advertising boards at cover.Clarke, who has struggled for runs since the opening week of the season, regained his touch with a sublime innings of 125 – like Mullaney, reaching 100 for the 15th time.Three players were given a first-class debut by Notts, including Joey Evison who, at the age of 17 years 301 days, has become the first player born in the 2000s to represent the county. Evison immediately looked at ease and caressed nine fours in making 45 from only 54 balls before falling lbw to Henry Brookes.The other newcomers are Ben Compton, cousin for former England batsman Nick, who made 14 before being bowled by Will Rhodes and pace bowler Jack Blatherwick, who has made two one-day appearances for the county. Chris Nash, at the other end of his playing career, was bowled by Brookes without scoring.At lunch Mullaney was unbeaten on 90 and he wasted little time in advancing to his hundred soon afterwards, arriving at the landmark from 93 balls with 19 fours. Mullaney pepped up the already-impressive run rate with the first of five huge sixes coming off George Garrett’s bowling. He passed 150 for the fourth time in his career from 140 balls before lofting Jeetan Patel to Oliver Hannon-Dalby at mid-off.Clarke reached his hundred from 153 balls, with 18 fours and then accelerated to 125 before hitting Rhodes out to deep midwicket.Ben Duckett missed out, caught off Hannon-Dalby for eight but Ravi Ashwin and Paul Coughlin took Notts past 400 for only the second time this year.

India A’s lower-order trio of Parthiv, Shankar and Gowtham helped the visitors make 467 for 8, after which their bowlers were made to work hard for 55 overs

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2018Hamish Rutherford punches down the ground•Getty Images

The lower-order trio of Parthiv Patel, Vijay Shankar and K Gowtham propelled India A to 467 for 8 on the second day of their first unofficial Test against New Zealand A, after which the hosts put on a solid batting show to finish on 176 for 1. Opener Hamish Rutherford crunched his 13th first-class hundred following India A’s declaration post lunch. In the afternoon, the India A bowlers toiled for 55 overs to prise out a solitary wicket. With two more days of play remaining, New Zealand A trail by 291.Parthiv, batting on 79 overnight, fell six short of a 27th first-class ton after edging Blair Tickner’s medium pace to the keeper. But Shankar and Gowtham added 89 in a ninth-wicket stand that took them past 450 before India A captain Ajinkya Rahane declared in the 123rd over. Tickner’s dismissal of Gowtham on 47 was his fourth wicket; he finished with figures of 4 for 80.It took India A almost 38 overs to earn their first wicket as New Zealand A’s opening pair of Rutherford and Will Young added 121. Fast bowlers Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj went wicketless, as did Shankar off his medium pace. The only India A wicket-taker was Gowtham, whose offspin dismissed the captain Young one short of a 28th first-class half-century. But Rutherford pushed on, reaching his ton in 155 deliveries, and by stumps, New Zealand A ensured they lost no further wicket. Rutherford’s innings featured 16 fours and a six.

The Australia A captain followed a century with two wickets to keep his side’s hopes alive in the Quadrangular A series

The Report by Hemant Brar in Bengaluru25-Aug-2018Travis Head gets forward to drive•Getty Images

Travis Head’s sixth List A hundred and two wickets helped Australia A clinch a 32-run victory over South Africa A in the seventh game of the Quadrangular A series.Head led from the front after opting to bat with a 117-ball 110. The captain found good support from D’Arcy Short and Marnus Labuschagne as Australia posted a formidable 322 for 5 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In reply, Sarel Erwee and Gihahn Cloete got South Africa off to a flying start. However, once the openers were dismissed, wickets kept tumbling. At 167 for 7, Khaya Zondo was left fighting a lost battle. He struck four fours and seven sixes in his 104-ball 117 and was eventually the last batsman out. South Africa were bowled out for 290 in 48.4 overs, with Mitchell Swepson the most successful bowler for Australia, picking up 3 for 40 in ten overs.Head could have been out stumped for 35 off Shaun von Berg, but the extra bounce meant wicketkeeper Rudi Second failed to collect the ball. Von Berg then himself failed to latch on to a difficult return chance when Head was on 70. The batsman took full advantage of the reprieves, guiding Australia to a total which fetched them their first win of the tournament.Australia didn’t have a great start and lost Usman Khawaja to a run-out in the fifth over when Erwee showed great presence of mind. Khawaja tried to force Robbie Frylinck on the leg side but missed and was struck on the pads. The umpire denied a loud lbw shout as the ball went towards slips where an alert Erwee hit the stumps with the batsman having casually wandered out of his crease and being lazy about getting back in. However, that remained the only bright spot for South Africa in the field.At 17 for 1, Head joined Short and the two upped the scoring-rate. Head started by collecting two fours off Frylinck, while Short launched Beuran Hendricks for six over wide long-on before driving him through the covers for a boundary.Short then welcomed von Berg into the attack with a fierce hit down the ground, with the bowler barely having any time to react. The legspinner though got his revenge in the next over when he trapped Short in front with a fuller delivery as the batsman went for a sweep.Head and Labuschagne didn’t let the momentum slip though, and added 136 in 137 balls for the third wicket. Labuschagne used the sweep to good effect and brought up his fifty with back-to-back fours off von Berg. He too got a second chance, on 57, when Zondo dropped a tough return catch. However, it didn’t prove costly as Magala pinned him lbw for 65.Meanwhile, Head brought up his century off 111 balls and was greeted with cheers and whistles by a sparse crowd. However, he was bowled soon after by Hendricks while trying for a big hit.Matt Renshaw, coming in at No. 5, scored an unbeaten 29-ball 42, and Agar struck 17 not out off four deliveries with two sixes and a four as Australia collected 89 from last ten overs.Chasing 323, Erwee and Cloete started positively for South Africa. The duo added 89 in just 12.5 overs before Erwee hit a full toss from Head straight to Labuschagne at short midwicket.Cloete brought up his fifty with a four off Head but was bowled right after, with the ball spinning just enough to beat the bat and dislodge the off-stump bail. Second then pulled a short ball from Ashton Agar into the hands of Jack Wildermuth at deep midwicket, leaving South Africa 118 for 3 in the 20th over.South Africa were relying on Farhaan Behardien, but he too was run out in a bizarre fashion. An Agar delivery struck him on the pads and rolled towards Short at first slip. A confused Behardein set off for a single before realising the ball was in Short’s possession, but it was too late by then.Swepson then ran through the lower-middle order with three quick wickets. Zondo fought hard, adding 82 for the eighth wicket with Frylinck, but, in the end, had to be satisfied only with a consolation century.

Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair, Hanuma Vihari, Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande will also be in action during the List A tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2018Dinesh Karthik, who was dropped from the Indian ODI team to face West Indies, has been made captain of the India A team for the Deodhar Trophy which begins in Delhi on October 23. He leads a team that includes attacking opener Prithvi Shaw, Test spinner R Ashwin, batsman Karun Nair and allrounder Krunal Pandya.Normally, the Deodhar Trophy would include the winner of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. But with the World Cup only seven months away, this edition will be played between India A, India B and India C so that the selectors can firm up the set of probables who will be travelling to England next year.Ajinkya Rahane will lead India C, where he will have Suresh Raina and Shubman Gill for company. Also part of the 14-member squad is Washington Sundar, who injured his ankle in June on India’s tour of the UK. The 19-year old offspinner has only recently returned to playing cricket, picking up four wickets in three matches for Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.Shreyas Iyer will captain India B, which includes Mayank Agarwal, the Karnataka opener who remains uncapped despite being called up to India’s Test squad. Most of their firepower appears to be in the bowling department. They have a swing bowler in Deepak Chahar, a left-arm quick in Jaydev Unadkat for variation and Varun Aaron for outright pace. Also part of the roster is legspinner Mayank Markande. The 20-year old had a successful debut season in the IPL in 2018, picking up 15 wickets in 14 innings at an economy rate of 8.3. Since then he has also been picked to play for India A in one-day cricket.India A: Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), Prithvi Shaw, Anmolpreet Singh, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ankit Bawne, Nitish Rana, Karun Nair, Krunal Pandya, R Ashwin, Shreyas Gopal, S Mulani, Mohammed Siraj, Dhawal Kulkarni, Siddarth KaulIndia B: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Rituraj Gaekwad, PS Chopra, Hanuma Vihari, Manoj Tiwary, Ankush Bains (wk), Rohit Rayudu, K Gowtham, Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Nadeem, Deepak Chahar, Varun Aaron, Jaydev UnadkatIndia C: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Shubman Gill, R Samarth, Suresh Raina, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (WK), Vijay Shankar, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Pappu Roy, Navdeep Saini, Rajneesh Gurbani, Umar Nazir

CoA approves decision to start the games at 7pm IST, “for the convenience of the viewing public”

Nagraj Gollapudi12-May-2018The IPL playoffs, including the final, will start an hour early – from 7pm IST (13.30 GMT). The BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) has approved the change in timings, a move which earlier got the nod from IPL governing council chairman Rajiv Shukla.Ever since the IPL began in 2008, the evening matches have started at 8pm. However, given that matches this season have often ended past midnight, the IPL chief operating officer Hemang Amin proposed that the playoffs begin an hour early. Shukla and CoA aside, Amin’s proposal was also approved by two senior office bearers of the BCCI: Amitabh Choudhury (acting secretary) and CK Khanna (acting president). There was only one person who opposed the move: BCCI acting treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, who said the decision was ad-hoc and unnecessary.The CoA did not agree with Chaudhry. “When the decision came to the CoA for approval, I concurred with the decision taken by the two BCCI office bearers and the IPL governing council chairman,” Vinod Rai, the chairman of the CoA, told ESPNcricinfo.Chaudhry said the IPL governing council had already deliberated on a potential change of timings before the 2018 season began, but nothing came of it. “Prior to the start of the tournament, in an officially convened IPL governing council meeting, there was a discussion on the timings for the whole tournament but we did not hear anything on it thereafter. Now all of a sudden one saw this being covered in the media,” Chaudhry said in a letter, according to PTI. “And after that this suggestion has come forth and the arguments being given are two: a. This would be in line with the bilateral T20 match start time (international matches). b. It would be helpful if we plan to do a closing ceremony which could be in between the 2 innings, and an early presentation/prize distribution after the final match.”In its reply to Chaudhry, the CoA reasoned that the matches start at 8pm mostly to accommodate double-headers. “The CoA okayed it mainly on two grounds,” Rai said. “Firstly for the convenience of the viewing public. Since there are no double-headers involved and the matches starting at 8pm finish well past midnight. Also the final will involve an awards ceremony which will take place after the match and we did not want to stretch it beyond 1am.”The IPL playoffs begin on May 22 with Mumbai hosting Qualifier 1 (played between the top two teams at the end of the league phase). Kolkata will host the Eliminator (knockout between the third- and fourth-placed teams) on May 23, and two days later Qualifier 2 (loser of Qualifier 1 v winner of the Eliminator). The final will be played in Mumbai on May 27.

England have dropped Keaton Jennings and will give Joe Denly a debut as they attempt to fight their way back into the series

The Preview by Andrew Miller30-Jan-2019

Big Picture

It’s happening again, you know. England’s impressively woeful record in the Caribbean is in serious danger of another four-year extension, after one of the most outstanding team performances ever put together in West Indies’ long and illustrious history.It’s not often that a spell of 5 for 4 in 27 balls can be overshadowed in the final analysis of a glorious Test win. But such was West Indies’ collective brilliance in Barbados that Kemar Roach’s finest hour was only the third-most stunning statistical feat of the game, behind Jason Holder’s wonderful double-hundred and Roston Chase’s web-weaving eight-for in the fourth innings.Throw in the gut-busting efforts of Shimron Hetmyer (whose first-innings 81 was arguably – arguably! – the most agenda-setting performance of the match), Shane Dowrich’s share of a record-breaking 295-run stand on that incredible third day, and some brilliant but under-rewarded old-school fast bowling from Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph in particular, and the net result was a performance that England – in a glorious, throwback-to-the-1980s fashion – simply found too hot to handle.Make no mistake: even allowing for the shifting sands of the Test game, and the increasing propensity for teams, of all nationality, to fold like badly-erected beach umbrellas when the pressure is cranked up and the prospect of salvation is lost, this was a battering – with bat and ball – that could hardly have been bettered by Viv Richards and Malcolm Marshall, or Brian Lara and Curtly Ambrose.From an England perspective, the Barbados post-mortem zeroed in on two key shortcomings. The selection of the wrong team, with Sam Curran’s inclusion ahead of Stuart Broad and Adil Rashid’s anonymity as the second spinner, left them toothless at crucial moments of both innings, most spectacularly when Holder and Dowrich started teeing off in the second.But pitch mis-readings can happen. The less-forgivable shortcoming was England’s fatuous, almost blasé, attitude to their tour match at the 3Ws Oval. CWI had hoped for a proper four-day contest, not least to justify pulling so many players out of domestic competition. Instead, England insisted on two two-day warm-ups, glorified nets sessions against opponents who were visibly less than thrilled to be used in such a capacity. It provided, you suspect, further fuel to West Indies’ fire when it came to the main event.Stuart Broad walks out of the England dressing room•Getty Images

England will not make either mistake again. Broad, with his shorter, Richard Hadlee-inspired run-up, is sure to play at Antigua, while England are sure to have the match readiness for this second Test that they so palpably lacked for the first. But having blinked first in a three-Test series – and let’s face it, it was more of a bout of narcolepsy than a momentary nodding-off at the wheel – England face a massive challenge to get their series expectations back on course.For starters, there’s the Antigua factor – an island synonymous with some of West Indies’ most towering feats in the past, particularly against England. From Richards’ 56-ball hundred to Lara’s twin world records, and more recently to a pair of epic rearguards in 2009 and 2015, it’s an island where England have never yet tasted victory.Admittedly, the actual venue has shifted in recent years from the legendary ARG to the less-storied stadium in North Sound, and there has to be a first time for everything. But if West Indies can come close to matching the intensity they displayed in Barbados, it will be a challenge for England simply to stay with them, let alone better them.But whatever transpires, this series has already confounded expectations, and revived memories of past West Indian glories that, all too often in a troubled couple of decades, have threatened to consume rather than inspire their current and coming generations. Barbados was a performance around which the whole of the Caribbean was proud to rally. Bring on the next instalment.

Form guide

West Indies WLLLL (completed matches, most recent first)

England LWWWW

In the spotlight

How does any player follow up a performance quite like that, let alone a young captain who is, at long last, starting to get the respect his talent and dignity have earned? Jason Holder produced a Test match for the ages in Barbados, smoking a quite brilliant double-century – his first in front of his home fans – while bowling with brilliant, understated control, and marshaling his resources with a deft touch. In the course of his endeavours, he rose to become the No.1 allrounder in Test cricket – West Indies’ first such incumbent since the matchless Garry Sobers. His challenge this week is to lift his side to do it all again, and secure a series win that Sobers himself would have been proud to play a part in.Joe Denly looks on during a net session•Getty Images

England confirmed on match eve that Joe Denly will complete a remarkable journey to Test recognition – one that stalled way back in February 2010 but was unexpectedly revived in a Man-of-the-Match display of legspin in a one-off T20I in Sri Lanka before Christmas. At the age of 32 and 321 days, he will be the oldest batsman to debut for England since Allan Wells in 1995 (not that he’d want to emulate that particular England career…) Opening the innings will be a stiff challenge for Denly, whose return to recognition stemmed from his middle-order contributions for Kent over the last two summers. But he’ll have streets of experience to fall back on, and who knows, his wristspin might be a handy option for Joe Root too.

Team news

Why change a winning formula? Assuming there are no lingering fitness worries from Barbados, then West Indies are set to name an unchanged XI. That said, Gabriel was troubled by a bruised toe during the second innings at Bridgetown, while Joseph has been prone to back stiffness on his return from a stress fracture. Dowrich, who handed the wicketkeeping duties over to Shai Hope after picking up a niggle during his batting heroics, is fully recovered and ready to resume his role.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shane Dowrich (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Shannon GabrielKeaton Jennings has paid the price for his terrible display in the first Test, with Denly to make his Test debut, almost ten years on from his first appearance in England’s one-day set-up. Broad is also slated for a comeback, with England seemingly committed to a solitary spinner this time around – Adil Rashid has been left out of a 12-man squad, with Jack Leach coming into contention. Moeen Ali’s bowling was scarcely any more economical than Rashid’s in Bridgetown, while his pair spoke of a batsman whose form has fallen off a cliff, and Leach is an option who is sure to provide control. Ben Foakes was fearing for his place after a double failure in Bridgetown, but both he and Sam Curran have credit in the bank after their first taste of defeat in an England shirt.England (possible): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Joe Denly, 3 Jonny Bairstow, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Sam Curran, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson

Pitch and conditions

Two days out from the Test, there was still a fair amount of live grass on the wicket, but with a bit of a haircut and another day of Caribbean heat, it ought to be a fairly dry surface come Thursday morning. It might prove to be a touch quicker than in 2015 but in essence, it is a good batting wicket.

Stats and trivia

• England need to win this Test to have any hope of improving a woeful series record in the Caribbean, in which they have won a solitary series (in 2004) in their last nine attempts since 1968.
• After his scores of 4 and 22, Root’s Test average has dipped below 50 for the first time since August 2014, when he scored an unbeaten 149 against India at The Oval.
• If they are reunited with the new ball, James Anderson (570) and Broad (433) will become only the third bowling partnership to take the field with a combined 1000 Test wickets behind them, after Glenn McGrath (563) and Shane Warne (708), and Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Chaminda Vaas (355).
• Ben Stokes passed 3000 runs at Bridgetown, making him the fifth England allrounder to complete the 3000 runs and 100 wickets double, behind Ian Botham, Tony Greig, Andrew Flintoff and Broad.

Quotes

“We’re definitely still the underdogs in this series. We’re ranked eight and they’re ranked two or three.”
“It’s a very determined group of players who have had a bit of pride dented last week and know that’s not a good enough performance for what we’re capable of. This is our first opportunity to put things right.”
Joe Root believes his side are ready to bounce back

Wayne Madsen reached a batting milestone for Derbyshire but it was Leicestershire who took the honours on the opening day of the floodlight Division Two match

ECB Reporters Network25-Jun-2018
ScorecardWayne Madsen reached a batting milestone for Derbyshire but it was Leicestershire who took the honours on the opening day of the floodlight Division Two match at Derby. Madsen completed 14,000 runs in all cricket for the county during his 80 but the home side were bowled out for 245 with former Derbyshire spinner Callum Parkinson taking 3 for 50.Leicestershire opener Harry Dearden was forced to retire hurt on 8 under the new protocol regarding suspected concussion after he was struck on the helmet but skipper Paul Horton made an unbeaten 48 out of 82 without loss.Leicestershire would have been disappointed not to take more wickets on a green-tinged pitch in the first session after an uncontested toss but the bowling lacked consistency. Pakistan Test seamer Mohammad Abbas had Harvey Hosein caught behind for 19 but Ben Slater and Madsen were on the verge of batting though to lunch until Slater missed a sweep at Parkinson and was lbw for 46 to the last ball.Parkinson then struck with the first ball after the interval, trapping Alex Hughes lbw pushing forward and then removed Billy Godleman leg before with a quicker ball in his next over to reduce Derbyshire to 93 for 4.Leicestershire should have had a fifth wicket 11 runs later but Matt Critchley was put down at second slip on 4 and the allrounder helped Madsen put on 51 before Neil Dexter swung one away to have him caught behind for 31. Richard Jones tailed one in to have Daryn Smit lbw but Madsen and Hardus Viljoen drove Parkinson for sixes before the last four wickets fell for 13 runs.Viljoen edged Gavin Griffiths on the stroke of tea and Ben Raine pinned Madsen and Duanne Olivier lbw before Abbas bowled Ravi Rampaul to leave Derbyshire five short of a second batting point.That left Leicestershire with 28 overs to bat under the floodlights and both Horton and Dearden took blows on the helmet and body from Olivier which resulted in the umpires advising Dearden to leave the field after the opening pair had put on 53. Derbyshire’s seam attack beat the bat numerous times in the closing overs but Horton and Colin Ackermann played well to make it a good day for Leicestershire who closed 163 behind.

India overcome 110-run deficit to chase down 321 in the fourth innings courtesy half-centuries from Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair and Hanuma Vihari

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2018Getty Images

Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 67 off 71 balls helped India A complete a stirring come-from-behind win in the second four-day Test against West Indies A in Taunton. They chased down 321 with five wickets in hand to clinch the series 1-0.While Pant saw the chase through, the foundation was laid by half-centuries from Hanuma Vihari (68) and captain Karun Nair (55) on Thursday. This allowed India A, who resumed the fourth day needing 107 to win, to rally despite losing two wickets inside the first five overs of play. Jayant Yadav, the offspinner, made 23 not out in an unbroken 100-run stand with Pant for the sixth wicket to seal the win.Two days into the contest though, India A were well behind. They were bowled out for 192 in the first innings, with left-arm seamer Raymon Reifer taking five wickets as West Indies A claimed a 110-run lead. But a sensational fightback led by India’s seamers resulted in West Indies A being bowled out for 210 in their second innings.Half-centuries from John Campbell and Jermaine Blackwood apart, there was little of note in the West Indies second innings; they lost their last nine wickets for 85. Mohammad Siraj picked up four wickets while Rajneesh Gurbani, on India A debut, finished with three. Siraj finished with match figures of 8 for 132.Chasing a huge score, India A openers R Samarth and Abhimanyu Easwaran put on 51. Then Nair, pressing for a middle order berth in India’s Test squad for England, struck eight fours in his 63-ball 55. His 136-run stand with the in-form Vihari put West Indies A on the back foot. Their wickets early on the fourth day threatened to take the game away, but Pant chose to make his mark on the tour with a responsible knock to guide the side home.India A’s final tour game is a one-off Test against England Lions from July 16, one where a number of Test specialists like M Vijay, Mohammed Shami and Wriddhiman Saha are likely to feature ahead of the first Test against England on August 1 at Edgbaston.

Century stand between Ollie Price and Ben Charlesworth proves decisive before Jack Taylor secures win with unbeaten 50

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay17-Aug-2025Gloucestershire 240 for 4 (Price 66, Taylor 50*, Charlesworth 50) beat Worcestershire 237 for 8 (Kashif 36, Cullen 35, Ahmed 2-21) by six wicketsGloucestershire maintained their 100 percent record in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup with a powerful six-wicket derby victory over Worcestershire at Visit Worcestershire New Road.Jack Taylor’s side ended their opponents’ unbeaten record after restricting them to 237 for 8 with an excellent display with the ball. Josh Shaw set the tone with an opening spell of 6-3-6-0 on his way to 10-3-27-1 as six Rapids batters reached 25 but none made it to 40.As the pitch eased for batting, Gloucestershire advanced comfortably to 240 for 4 with 43 balls to spare. The only century stand of the match, from Oliver Price (66) and Ben Charlesworth (50), proved decisive before skipper Taylor saw his side to victory with an unbeaten 50 off 36 balls, posting his half-century with the winning runs.Gloucestershire chose to bowl and did so impressively with the new ball, led by Shaw’s superb opening spell. On a pitch assisting the seamers, Worcestershire weathered the new ball unscathed but then lost three wickets for 18 runs in 22 balls as they sought to accelerate.Daaryoush Ahmed, on only his second List A appearance, had Isaac Mohammed caught at deep midwicket and trapped the in-form Jake Libby lbw. Brett D’Oliveira struck the first six of the match but edged Craig Miles to wicketkeeper James Bracey in the next over.Kashif Ali (36) and Ethan Brookes (31) added 62 in 13 overs before falling in successive overs. Kashif edged Graeme van Buuren to Bracey and Brookes hoisted Shaw to deep midwicket where Tommy Boorman took a brilliant catch.The pattern of batters getting in then getting out continued. Henry Cullen (35) edged Miles behind, Matthew Waite (28) drilled a low return catch to van Buuren and Tom Taylor (25) was caught right on the deep midwicket boundary off Matt Taylor. It was sharp, strong work in the field from Gloucestershire, though Fateh Singh finished the innings with a flourish when he struck the last two balls, from Miles, for six.Gloucestershire lost Bracey, who edged Khurram Shahzad behind, in the sixth over, and Cameron Bancroft was run out by Libby when he was slow to respond to Price’s call for a single, but Price and Charlesworth produced the day’s most fluent batting. They added 105 in 16 overs before departing in the space of six balls. Price nicked a pull at Shahzad to wicketkeeper Cullen and Charlesworth pulled Waite to deep midwicket.With 80 still needed and two new batters in, the Rapids had a glimmer of hope but those new batters were the vastly experienced Jack Taylor and van Buuren. With the home attack unable to call upon Brookes due to a back niggle, the fifth-wicket pair added an unbroken 82 in 60 balls to take their side to a fifth win out of five and the brink of qualification with three games still to go.

“Playing two Test matches back-to-back is always fun and bowling a lot of overs is something I enjoy,” Kuldeep says

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2025Shubman Gill, who has just wrapped up his first Test series win as India captain is “kind of getting used to it [the experience]”, he said after the seven-wicket win over West Indies on Tuesday sealed a 2-0 series win.”It’s about taking the right options in the given situation,” he said in the presentation ceremony when asked what he had learnt after seven Tests (starting with the 2-2 result in England) as the leader of the pack. “I try to make the most probable decision in the given situation that we are in. Sometimes you have to take some bold decisions, that X-factor depending on which player can get you certain runs or get you those wickets.”Four wins in seven Tests is a great start for any Test captain, but when you lead India, it comes with additional scrutiny. In Delhi, it was in response to India enforcing the follow-on after taking a 270-run lead, especially after the 177-run third-wicket stand between century-makers John Campbell and Shai Hope.Related

• What did India gain by playing Reddy in the West Indies series?

• Gambhir wants bounce and carry on Indian pitches

• India complete 2-0 sweep in Gill's first series win

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“We were around 300 runs ahead and the wicket was quite dead, and we thought even if we scored 500 runs, we have to get six or seven wickets on day five it would be a tough day for us,” Gill explained.The other little niggle was Nitish Kumar Reddy, the fast-bowling allrounder in the XI, not bowling a single over. “[He] didn’t really get to bowl any overs in this match but we don’t want players to only play matches overseas – that puts a lot of pressure on the players,” Gill said. “If we want to groom certain players that we think can help us win matches overseas [we need to find spots for them], because that’s been the challenge for us.”Two of the players who got to bowl a lot and played key roles in the series were Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. Two spinners trying to form a partnership after many years of R Ashwin being the lead spinner when at home.”I could get chance to bowl more overs,” Jadeja said with a laugh after collecting his player-of-the-series award. “We’ve been doing wonderful work as a team. We know what brand of cricket we have been playing since last five-six months, so it’s a good sign as a team that we continue to do it for a long period of time.”2:13

Why didn’t Nitish Kumar Reddy bowl a single over in the Delhi Test?

Jadeja has also moved up the batting order in recent times – all the way to No. 6. And the returns have been solid. There was a century in England when India saved a Test they seemed out of in Manchester, and one now in Ahmedabad, along with a number of other impressive scores. “In past so many years, I have been batting at No. 8, No. 9, so my mindset was a little different to what I have right now, but [I’m] just trying to spend more time in the middle when I get the chance.”He’s also got a chance to mentor the younger spinners in the side, like Kuldeep and Washington Sundar. “It’s lovely to have him [Jadeja] around,” Kuldeep said. “He’s someone who has always guided me in tough situations and giving me some advice and it’s really helping me out.”Having sat out the entire tour of England, Kuldeep was back in the XI for the two Tests against West Indies and bowled beautifully, finishing with a chart-topping 12 wickets, including eight in Delhi that earned him the player-of-the-match award.1:15

How Kuldeep beat the challenges of a slow pitch

“In terms of pace, I thought, probably the pace, and the drift, which I got in Ahmedabad, if you compare that to this Test match, there wasn’t any drift here, because of the surface. The wicket was too dry,” he said of the changes he had to make between the two Tests. “Playing two Test matches back-to-back is always fun, and bowling lot of overs and getting the breakthrough in the middle is something I enjoy.”There isn’t much time for the multi-format players, with the first ODI of the series in Australia in a week’s time.Kuldeep will squeeze in as much football-watching as he can: “I’ll watch a few games and we hardly have time, we’re going to fly tomorrow and we have a game on the 19th. So I have to prepare for that.”Gill will leave his preparations – or the planning, at least – till later: “It’s a long flight, maybe we can talk about it there.”