All posts by h716a5.icu

Chris Gayle has said he is eager to score big in the ODI format, in which he hasn’t had a great run in recent times

Nagraj Gollapudi in Cardiff01-Jun-2013″There are new rules?” Chris Gayle asked genuinely, but in a playful tone, leaning back on one of the bottom-row seats below the dressing room at the SWALEC stadium in Cardiff. Wait, Gayle, one of the most senior players in cricket, is not aware of the new ODI rules that were rolled out at the start of 2013: not more than four fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle at any stage of the innings, bowlers being permitted two bouncers in an over and the Powerplays to be completed by the 40th over. You wondered if he was toying with you just like he does with the bowlers when batting. “I have the book but I havent’ read it as yet,” Gayle confessed with a chuckle on a sunny Friday.Unlike the India captain MS Dhoni, who said earlier in the week that the new ODI rules posed a big challenge, Gayle was more flexible. “They are trying to bring more excitement to the 50-over game based on what is happening in Twenty20. You just have to cope with it. It will take some time to make the necessary adjustment and once you adapt, hopefully the fans will gravitate back to the one-day format,” Gayle said.It is this relaxed attitude that makes Gayle such an instant attraction. You do not need to know him. If you can make him smile, Gayle will open up warmly. Spotting some grey hair in his thin beard, this reporter asked him if he was thinking too much. “Like a bird,” Gayle burst out laughing. “That is a good sign or bad sign, I don’t know. I hope it is for a good cause.”Yet, Gayle has always been a thinking batsman. He is never expansive in his thoughts, but he is clear about his own game. Importantly, he understands his goals and has never taken his position in the West Indies team for granted. For instance, he admitted he had not performed consistently in the last few ODI series he played for West Indies. After his 125 at home in Jamaica in the second ODI of the series against New Zealand, Gayle has not been able to score a fifty in his last 11 ODI matches across three series. “Get some runs. Get some runs. I need some runs for West Indies. The last couple of games I haven’t done well for my team. Hopefully this tournament can be turning point for me,” Gayle said.At the same time, he wasn’t putting too much pressure on himself. “Once the mental aspect is ready, the entire body will be ready,” Gayle said, after his first training session for the Champions Trophy. He joined the squad only on Friday morning, as he had to attend to opening an academy for kids in London the day before.Despite his lean form for West Indies in recent times, Gayle is coming into the Champions Trophy on another high in the IPL, where he finished as the tournament’s second-highest run-maker, including a record-breaking 175 not out. Dwayne Bravo, who was appointed West Indies ODI captain , called Gayle the “most dangerous batsman”. “I’ll take that any day,” Gayle said of the compliment, as long as he could live up to the expectations of his team. “Everybody is looking forward to great things. I am trying to keep it simple and I am going to try my best out there and give the team what is required of me and hopefully that will pay off.”Does it then add pressure that fans always expect him to score a boundary off every ball? “Even when I scored 175 in the IPL, people were looking forward to 200. In a Twenty20 game the expectations from the fans is huge. We just have to take it in our stride and take it one step at a time and try and put your best foot forward every time. It is important to entertain the fan but what is more important is what the team requires at the particular moment and you have to make the necessary adjustment.”His main responsibility would be to provide the team with a good start this tournament. “Trying to give the team a good start especially in these conditions is going to be key for us. Bat as many overs as possible, try and be there for long. I know once I am there, runs will come.”

Division Two leaders Northamptonshire look on course for a fifth win of the season after taking complete control against Leicestershire at Grace Road

12-Jun-2013
ScorecardAndrew Hall added to Leicestershire’s problems with a hundred•Getty ImagesDivision Two leaders Northamptonshire look on course for a fifth win of the season after taking complete control of their LV= County Championship clash against Leicestershire at Grace Road.Leicestershire limped to 47 for 2, still needing another 371 runs to avoid the follow-on, before rain brought a premature end to the second day.Northamptonshire added another 247 runs to their overnight 320 for 4 before declaring on 567 for 7 in mid-afternoon. Kyle Coetzer made a career best 219, Andrew Hall hit his third century of the season and James Middlebrook hammered a quickfire 84. The declaration left Leicestershire with 10 overs to face before tea and they made a poor startNiall O’Brien gloved a catch behind off a lifting delivery from David Willey without scoring and Lee Daggett took a stinging return catch off his own bowling to dismiss Greg Smith for 9. That made it 19 for 2, but Ned Eckersley and Joe Burns stayed together until the tea interval, when the rain swept in to prevent any further play.And an unsettled weather forecast for the next two days could represent bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire’s best hope of avoiding defeat after Northamptonshire ruthlessly stamped their mark on the game.Coetzer began the day on 150 with Hall 65 not out. It was Hall who was the aggressor in the opening overs, scoring 35 runs off 32 balls to reach his century off 144 balls with 16 boundaries.But he was out for 103 when he drove a catch to cover off Nathan Buck, ending a fifth wicket stand of 175 in 46 overs. There was still no respite for Leicestershire with Middlebrook sharing a partnership of 100 with Coetzer. The only disappointment for Northamptonshire was that they missed out on maximum batting points by just five runs.But Coetzer continued to pile on the misery for the home side, reaching the first double hundred of his career off 371 balls with a six and 32 fours. When he was finally out for 219, caught behind edging a wide delivery from Alex Wyatt, he had faced 402 balls and batted for just over eight and a half hours.Middlebrook looked set to become the third centurion of the innings until he skied a catch off Rob Taylor having made 84 off 115 balls with 13 fours. The fall of his wicket brought the declaration, leaving Steven Crook unbeaten on 47. Wyatt was the most successful Leicestershire bowler taking 3 for 107 in 33 overs.

The ECB have requested clarification from the ICC on the chain of events that led to Jonathan Trott being adjudged lbw in England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.

George Dobell at Trent Bridge11-Jul-2013The ECB have requested clarification from the ICC on the chain of events that led to Jonathan Trott being adjudged lbw in England’s second innings at Trent Bridge.Andy Flower, the England team director, went to see the ICC match referee, Ranjan Madugalle, after the TV umpire, Marais Erasmus, overruled the on-field umpire, Aleem Dar, following Australia’s review of Dar’s decision to give Trott not out.Erasmus took the decision to overrule Dar despite conflicting TV evidence and without the chance of inspecting Hot Spot from the crucial side-on position. Sky Sports, the host broadcaster who supply the Hot Spot cameras, told Erasmus the technology was not available as the delivery to Trott was not recorded because the technology had been cued to show the previous delivery, the dismissal of Joe Root to a catch down the leg side.In a comment posted on ESPNcricinfo, Warren Brennan, Hot Spot’s inventor, said the issue was down to “operator error”.”Here is the absolute truth from our perspective in regard to the Trott incident,” he wrote, “it was operator error. My operator did not trigger the system in order to cater for the Trott delivery. Instead the operator sat on the Root delivery in order to offer a replay from the previous ball and did not realise until it was too late that he should have triggered the system for the Trott delivery as the priority. Simple mistake, something that anyone could have made but my Hot Spot operator has worked on the system since 2007 and to my knowledge this is the first serious mistake he has made.”England have asked the ICC to explain the protocol whereby a TV umpire can overrule despite an absence of the expected technological aides and asked for those protocols to be reviewed.”It’s very frustrating,” James Anderson said afterwards. “Trott has hit the ball and been given not out. He did hit it. It is frustrating that it got overturned. We’re all for technology because, since it came in, more decisions have been given out correctly than wrongly, so we want it.”While replays suggested a deviation before the ball hit Trott’s pad – perhaps from an edge, perhaps in the air – there was no evidence of an edge on Hot Spot from the front-on angle. The Snickometer, a visual representation of the noise made as the ball makes contact with the bat, is utilised by Sky for the purposes of entertainment, but is not currently among the approved ICC aides. It did not suggest an obvious edge.The England team management were also perplexed after Ashton Agar was given the benefit of the doubt by Erasmus following a very tight stumping appeal when he had scored just 6. Agar went on to score 98 – the world record contribution from a No. 11 batsman in Test cricket – and added 163 for the tenth wicket – another world record – in partnership with Phil Hughes.”I thought the stumping was out, but I saw it on the big screen so it’s hard to tell,” Anderson added. “Matt Prior was pretty confident it was out.”It may also be worth noting that, had Root utilised the DRS, he may well have been reprieved. There was no evidence of Hot Spot following his dismissal to a leg side catch but, after consultation with his captain, Alastair Cook, Root did not call for a review. Those who suggest that the technology does not currently support the DRS, may feel they have further evidence for their case.

Ravindra Jadeja, the Indian allrounder, has topped the ICC bowlers’ rankings in ODIs, level with West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, after jumping four places

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Aug-2013Ravindra Jadeja has topped the ICC bowlers’ rankings in ODIs, level with West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, after jumping four places.Jadeja is the first India bowler to top the rankings since Anil Kumble, who topped the table in 1996, and is the fourth India bowler to do so, Kapil Dev and Maninder Singh being the others.Jadeja took five wickets from five matches in the ODI series against Zimbabwe and is the leading wicket-taker this year with 38 wickets from 22 matches at 18.86. He also topped the wicket-takers list in the Champions Trophy with 12 wickets from five matches, and was named Man of the Match in the final against England. His team-mate Amit Mishra rocketed 47 places to 32nd spot after claiming 18 wickets against Zimbabwe in the bilateral series.Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who is ranked third after Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, equalled his career-high ranking in the batting list. Sangakkara, the leading run-scorer in the ODI series against South Africa with 372 runs at an average of 93, was last ranked third in 2005. Tillakaratne Dilshan gained two places and is now at the sixth spot. He scored 273 runs in the series and was second in the list of leading run-scorers.Meanwhile, India strengthened their position at the top of the ODI rankings after their 5-0 win even though it earned them just one rating point. Australia are ranked second, nine rating points behind India. Sri Lanka and South Africa swapped places and Sri Lanka are now ranked fourth, six rating points ahead of South Africa.The updated rankings were released after India’s 5-0 series win against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka’s 4-1 series win against South Africa at home.

Essex have signed India batsman Gautam Gambhir for the remainder of the season as they look to bring success to a turbulent campaign.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2013Essex have signed India batsman Gautam Gambhir for the remainder of the season as they look to bring success to a turbulent campaign.Embarrassed, booed off and publicly criticised by their head coach, Essex are remarkably in a position to make 2013 a year to remember. On Saturday they will take part in Friends Life t20 Finals Day and are handily-placed in both the Yorkshire Bank 40 and County Championship.Gambhir’s wealth of experience will replace the greener Hamish Rutherford, the New Zealand opener, who will be heading home to prepare for New Zealand’s domestic and international season. Gambhir is expected to join Essex ahead of their County Championship match against Northamptonshire in Colchester, which begins on August 20.That fixture is the first of Essex’s final six matches. Promotion is firmly in their sights; they currently lie 29 points off second-placed Northamptonshire and have a game in hand on every team in the division. That healthy position is somewhat inconceivable given Essex were bowled out for just 20 against Lancashire earlier in the season.They were also humbled by Middlesex in the Flt20, bowled out for 74 and booed off by their home fans, yet recovered to qualify for Finals Day with a superb 47-run victory at Nottinghamshire in the quarter-final. Qualification for the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Bank 40 is also a possibility; with two matches to play, Essex sit two points off the top of Group B.Gambhir’s 11,274 first-class runs and 8,815 List A runs could provide consistent performances at the top of the order, an absence of which has hindered Essex thorough the season.”We are delighted with the signing of Gautam Gambhir,” Essex head coach Paul Grayson said. “He is a player with pedigree, which has been showcased on the biggest stages. He will no doubt bring his experience to the squad during an important stage of the season for us.”Gambhir, who had been India’s first-choice opener in all forms of cricket over the past few seasons, was dropped from both Test and limited-overs teams earlier this year. He was left out of the squad for the home Tests against Australia and was also not included for the Champions Trophy and the tri-series in the West Indies. He has played 54 Tests and scored 4,021 runs at an average of 44.18.Gambhir is the first Indian player to sign for a county this season. In 2012, Harbhajan Singh represented Essex for the second half of the season.

Hi guys, off to play county cricket tomorrow, will be playing for Essex Eagles.

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) August 15, 2013

Jim Allenby scored an unbeaten 74 to give Glamorgan a fighting chance after Hampshire’s bowlers had begun well in Dimitri Mascarenhas final home match

Alex Winter at the Ageas Bowl07-Sep-2013
ScorecardJim Allenby played a composed innings of 74 not out before chipping in with two wickets in a miserly spell•PA PhotosJim Allenby has been the saviour of Glamorgan this season. He is so prized the county secured him on a new four-year contract in August; some deal for a 30-year-old. But his value was evident as he top-scored and bowled a painfully mean spell to send Glamorgan to their first showpiece final since 2000.His knees must be creaking given the weight of responsibility he has been forced to carry this year. Without his 1700 runs in all competitions, Glamorgan would have endured a miserable year. Here, he read the conditions far better than any of his colleagues with the bat and, with the ball, showed the correct length to bowl on a sluggish pitch.A 60-ball half-century gave some progress to what was for 30 overs a laboured first innings. From Allenby’s stability, Glamorgan added 81 in the final eight overs. That blitz, which included four fours and two sixes in Ben Wright’s unbeaten innings, was more like the cricket seen recently at the Ageas Bowl. Four hundred runs were scored here in the Friends Life t20 quarter-final and run-fests ensued in England internationals with New Zealand and Australia.The push gave Glamorgan a very competitive total, which they defended well, despite Hampshire’s own late surge of 71 in the final 10 overs, led by Sean Ervine, who arguably played the innings of the day by continuing to find the rope and keep Hampshire in the hunt with 54 in 51 balls. But once he holed out to long-on with 58 needed in 27 balls, the champions were dethroned.Ervine was removed by Michael Hogan – another who has made a standout contribution for Glamorgan and who they have relied on in all formats to be competitive. Having been slightly too full in his opening three overs, which conceded 20, Hogan closed out the match with full, straight bowling to end with 4 for 51.But it was Allenby who led the way with the ball, conceding only 18 runs from his eight overs and claiming the wickets of openers James Vince and Michael Roberts, who were pulling their hair out at how difficult the bowling was to manoeuvre.Allenby praises team effort

“It was a good all-round display. We’ve prided ourselves on putting in consistent team performances and not relying on individuals to win games and that’s what we showed again today. Three or four guys chipped in with the bat and all the bowlers did a good job.
“It was a tough wicket. It was quite slow and took turn. We summed it up quicker than they did and bowled brilliantly. With Michale Hogan and Graham Wagg and our spinners we’re always going to go well. It was probably lucky that we were sent in really because it turned more as the game went on.
“A few times out there I thought I’ve got to just whack this but it would probably have gone straight up in the air. It was good to have Murray Goodwin out there to work with and Ben Wright, that is probably one of the best one-day innings you’ll see. He’s only got 40 but that changed the momentum. He’s done it quite a few times this year without the recognition so it was good for him to do it today on the big stage.
“Whoever we come up against in the final, be it Notts or Somerset. They’re going to have guys who want to be seen on TV and are competing for England squads. They’ll take the focus away from the game. If we don’t do that and stick to our roles which are very well defined this year then we’ll go well.”

The Ageas Bowl has seen some cracking wickets for one-day cricket but a slow, sticky surface was unveiled for this semi-final and the conditions were alien to hosts Hampshire, as they lost a second one-day semi-final this season. Hitherto unbeaten at home in the competition this year, and successful in seven out of eight chases in the group stage, Hampshire were unable to hunt down a target asking for just under a run a ball.Allenby was almost impossible to score off. He bowled wicket-to-wicket on a length just fuller of good. With no pace or angle to work with, the batsmen endured eight overs of largely patting the ball back up the pitch. Only one boundary came from his spell, Jimmy Adams reaching out to flick a ball from middle and off wide of deep midwicket.It was Adams who headed the pursuit. Like Allenby, he largely settled for carefully working the bowling around and it was the Hampshire captain who elected to take the batting Powerplay in the 28th over when the required rate had leaped to 10 an over.Two slog sweeps found the rope but as he attempted a third, Andrew Salter, Glamorgan’s 20-year-old offspinner, slid one on to the front pad that was somehow not given out lbw by umpire David Millns. It was the second exceptionally close lbw appeal Adams had survived. He also escaped a caught behind decision when it appeared he gloved an attempted sweep to Mark Wallace.But he rode his luck and brought up a 73-ball fifty with a leg side swat that bounced over the head of Wallace. It was cricket straight from a schoolboy fixture and matched the six-yard run-out Adams missed earlier in the day; one of three run-out chances Hampshire didn’t take in a lacklustre fielding display.Adams fell top-edging an on-side flick that went straight in the air when 76 were needed from 42 balls and it was too much for the new batsmen who followed to settle on a pitch where timing was very difficult all day, even accounting for a fairytale scenario from Dimitri Mascarenhas, playing his last game for Hampshire.It was not the swansong he had hoped for. He stood at the end of his run at the Northern End preparing to bowl the 31st over of the Glamorgan innings. But the public address delayed his shuffling few strides to the crease to announce that this would be Mascarenhas’s final over at the Ageas Bowl.He acknowledged the generous applause before sending down a typically slippery over from which only three balls were scored off. A standing ovation followed as the Hampshire faithful recognised the final sight of one of their great servants. Hampshire lost the match and a legend.

Tamim Iqbal was dismissed within five runs of breaking a century drought that has lasted more than three years, after which continuous rain forced an early end to the day’s play

The Report by Mohammad Isam21-Oct-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTamim Iqbal was dropped twice but went on to score 95•AFPContinuous rain from the afternoon forced an early end to the first day’s play of the Mirpur Test but Bangladesh would see it as a blessing in disguise as it stopped a batting rot from taking larger form. Opener Tamim Iqbal, who fell five runs short of his first century since June 2010, was part of a string of soft dismissals which undermined two impressive sessions with the bat, and hampered the home side’s plans of putting up a large first innings score.The New Zealand bowlers were lucky on three out of the five wickets to fall, but the four-man pace attack worked hard to keep the batsmen on a leash. Neil Wagner, drafted in to replace Bruce Martin, took two wickets and generally looked sprightly. He complemented Trent Boult, the quicker of the two, well and made sure Doug Bracewell’s ten expensive overs didn’t hurt them too much. Though Bracewell was the most unfortunate, as Tamim was dropped twice – on 5 and 10 – of his bowling.With his good fortune, Tamim led the way after Bangladesh opted to bat first. He produced some crisp strokes, collecting 17 fours in his 153-ball innings. He was severe on the drive, mainly off the three left-arm seamers, and his deft touches through the leg side and taps through third man were also equally impressive.His progress into the nineties coincided with a cat-and-mouse game with Kane Williamson at gully. Tamim beat the fielder a few times but five runs short of his century, Williamson leapt sharply to his right to catch a ramp that was intended to go between the wicketkeeper and gully and Tamim’s century drought, lasting over three years, continues.Shakib Al Hasan followed Tamim in the over leading into the tea interval. However, rain arrived five minutes into tea and stumps were called from the umpire’s room after the downpour grew steadily heavier in the next hour. The outfield was very wet, an unusual occurrence at Shere Bangla National Stadium, which hosts the best drainage facilities in the country. The weather is expected to remain bleak, with more rain forecast for the remaining four days.Bangladesh made a good enough start despite losing the early wicket of Anamul Haque, who is yet to make a substantial score in his short Test career. This time he miscued a pull shot off Trent Boult to become the first of three tame dismissals.The second wicket partnership between Tamim and Marshall Ayub was the high point of the day’s batting. Marshall dominated the 67-run stand, striking six fours, and his drives through the off side caught the eye again. But similar to both innings of the Chittagong Test, Marshall fell just when he looked set for a maiden Test fifty. Mominul Haque was the third wicket that was gifted to the oppositon. The ball was so wide that it was a credit that he could edge it. Before the uncharacteristic dismissal, he had made 47 off 59 balls with eight fours.New Zealand would look to ensure this shift in momentum continues, but with more rain looming, play on the second day looks doubtful.

Kumar Sangakkara’s 169 propelled Board XI to a dominant position on day two of their four-dayer against Sri Lanka A at Sinhalese Sports Club

Andrew Fidel Fernando23-Oct-2013
ScorecardKumar Sangakkara slammed 19 fours during his innings of 169•Manoj RidimahaliyaddaKumar Sangakkara’s 169 propelled Board XI to a dominant position on day two of their four-dayer against Sri Lanka A at the Sinhalese Sports Club. A sodden outfield had made play impossible on day one, and with two days remaining, Board XI have almost batted the opposition out of the match, ending the day on 427 for 5. Dimuth Karunaratne and Mahela Jayawardene made 73 and 82 respectively, during long associations with Sangakkara.Sangakkara first rebuilt after Kaushal’s loss with Karunaratne, adding 122 for the second wicket, before consolidating his team’s position with a 174-run stand with Jayawardene. He scored his 45th first-class hundred late in the second session, embellishing a year in which he has been a juggernaut across all formats. This hundred was his fourth in the last five first-class innings. He had hit 58 on the occasion he missed out.The moisture in the turf after the weekend’s heavy rains did not seem to have spiced up the pitch for the quicks, who largely endured a day of meagre reward. Left-armer Vimukthi Perera and right-armers Ishan Jayaratne and Kanishka Alvitigala sent down 50 overs collectively, but took only 2 for 221 between them.Vimukthi removed Kaushal Silva – the only batsman who failed – in the ninth over for 8, but was wicketless after that, and Jayaratne dismissed Angelo Perera for 49 to brighten his figures marginally at the end of the day.Allrounder Ashan Priyanjan emerged with the day’s best haul, taking the wickets of Karunaratne and Jayawardene to finish with 2 for 47 from his 10 overs.Prasanna Jayawardene and Thisara Perera were at the crease at stumps, and although Board XI do not require many more runs, both men are vying to regain their Tests spots in what is the last first-class encounter before Sri Lanka’s tour of the UAE.

Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, has stressed the need for his batsmen to apply themselves more, especially if they continue with the five-batsman combination

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Nov-2013Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, was expecting to spend Sunday watching his team fight in front of a full house as the light faded at Eden Gardens, as the first Test went into the fifth day. Instead, he was overlooking a three-hour training session under a harsh sun at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The innings-and-51-run defeat in Kolkata was West Indies’ first inside three days during Gibson’s tenure. He was unimpressed.”There is only so much talking any coach can do,” Gibson said, after his batsmen had wasted starts in both innings of the first Test. “When you play five batsmen, and you sit down and stress the importance of those five batsmen, and you set yourself a challenge of batting a day and a half in the first innings, it is then up to those five batsmen to negotiate whatever the opposition bowlers throw at them and hang around for five days.”(But) When you have a run-out and a couple of soft dismissals within those five batsmen then it puts pressure on everybody else. That is exactly what happened. We have to get better. We have to learn those mistakes and try not to repeat them.”Marlon Samuels scored the only half-century for West Indies in the first Test. He was also the only batsman with a valid reason for his dismissals. In the first innings, Samuels was bowled by Mohammad Shami after the ball was changed and suddenly began to reverse swing. In the second, he was hit on the pad by another reverse-swinging delivery from Shami and was given lbw by umpire Nigel Llong, though the ball appeared to be going down leg side. The other batsmen had no such excuses.The top-order batsmen Kieran Powell, Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo paid for playing loose shots. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was ineffective in the absence of stable partners. As for Denesh Ramdin, did he even turn up in Kolkata?”Try and bat three days,” Gibson responded, when asked how the West Indies batting could improve. “We won the toss in good batting conditions and we batted 70-odd overs. That is just not good enough. We know in India you have to bat long, put runs on the board, 400 minimum in the first innings really. So the 234 that we made was pretty average.”We were little bit rusty coming in but we are not going to use that as an excuse. We still had our opportunities to make scores – we had six or seven guys who got starts and did not carry on. Only one guy got a half-century. When India batted only one or two of those guys got starts and made hundreds. And that was the difference.”According to Gibson, the five-batsman strategy is a recent one and it has worked for West Indies. Its success, however, depended on every player sticking to the plan, Gibson said. “When you look at the result you sort of want to think that way (whether the five-batsmen plan works). That line-up is the one with which we have played the last three or four Test matches. We backed those guys and they did not perform as well as they did in the past. It is a two-match series so we have to look at the combination to make sure we still believe strongly that we can win here.”

New South Wales opener Ryan Carters continued his strong start to the season with another century that set up victory for the Blues on the final day against Tasmania in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2013
ScorecardRyan Carters has been in strong form this season (file photo)•PA PhotosNew South Wales opener Ryan Carters continued his strong start to the season with another century that set up victory for the Blues on the final day against Tasmania in Hobart. Chasing 255, New South Wales reached their target with only four wickets down, with Scott Henry (76 not out) steering the chase after the departure of Carters, although it was captain Peter Nevill (16 not out) who struck the winning run.It was quite a turnaround for the Blues after they conceded first-innings points by falling 90 runs short of Tasmania’s total, but by restricting the Tigers in the second innings they allowed themselves a realistic chase. New South Wales resumed on the final morning on 0 for 43, and added a further 40 runs before the opening stand was broken when Nic Maddinson was caught at mid-off from the bowling of Luke Butterworth for 43.But Carters and Henry put the result beyond doubt with a 138-run partnership that ended when Carters, on 100, was lbw to Sam Rainbird (3 for 52). It was the second first-class hundred for Carters in the past two matches – he had not made one at the start of the season – and his summer also included 94 against the touring England side for a Cricket Australia Invitational XI last month.Carters finished the match on top of New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield run tally so far this season, with 409 at 81.80. Rainbird was on a hat-trick after he bowled Ben Rohrer for a golden duck next ball after Carters was dismissed, and while he did not claim three from three balls, he did pick up the wicket of Kurtis Patterson for 4 before Henry and Nevill finished the chase.