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Gurinder Sandhu’s rapid emergence as a pace bowler of substance has been underlined by his surprise plucking of the Steve Waugh Medal as the best New South Wales cricketer for 2012-13

Daniel Brettig28-Mar-2013Gurinder Sandhu’s rapid emergence as a pace bowler of substance has been underlined by his surprise plucking of the Steve Waugh Medal as the best New South Wales cricketer for 2012-13. Despite playing only two Sheffield Shield matches and four domestic limited-overs fixtures, 19-year-old Sandhu’s 146 votes allowed him to edge Brad Haddin (143) and Trent Copeland (133) in the awards presentation at Doltone House in Sydney.A fringe member of the squad at the start of the summer after playing for Australia at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, Sandhu’s bouncing fast medium was first glimpsed when he played for the Sydney Thunder during the Big Bash League. He subsequently earned one-day and Shield call-ups in the latter part of the summer, and swiftly made a striking impact.In those two Shield games Sandhu collected 14 wickets, helping NSW to two outright wins that left them only narrowly short of qualifying for the competition final. In his limited-overs appearances he fared well too, also claiming 14 wickets to win the domestic one-day award. The Shield award was claimed by Copeland.Sandhu’s summer was also marked by representative duty for the Prime Minister’s XI and the Australia A side that faced the England Lions, affording him a glimpse of higher honours that are sure to follow in time if he can maintain the cracking pace he set this season.While Sandhu’s success was a welcome reminder of the strong pace bowling stock presently available in NSW and Australia, it also reflected a season in which the Blues were barely sustained by a series of cameo performances across their squad.Haddin enjoyed a fruitful season that culminated in his Test recall in India, making 468 runs at 52 with two centuries across seven matches in the Shield while claiming 19 catches and a trio of stumpings. Copeland also contributed consistently, nipping out 30 wickets at 26.86 and compiling his first Shield century against Tasmania.Victoria and South Australia have also named their players of the season in end-of-year ceremonies. Chris Rogers took home his second Bill Lawry Medal as the Bushrangers’ most accomplished cricketer in 2012-13, his 742 runs at 49.46 and three centuries vindicating the state’s decision to re-sign the 35-year-old in the winter.Chadd Sayers was named South Australia’s cricketer of the year, winning both the Neil Dansie Medal as most valuable player and the Lord Hampden Trophy as best first-class performer for his prolific bowling feats in the Shield. Sayers, 25, reaped 48 wickets in nine matches and played a large part in making the Redbacks competitive again after some dismal recent summers at first-class level.

Mahela Jayawardene is confident Sri Lanka can take plenty of positives from the tri-series even if they fail to beat Australia at the MCG and qualify for the finals

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne01-Mar-2012Mahela Jayawardene is confident Sri Lanka can take plenty of positives from the tri-series even if they fail to beat Australia at the MCG and qualify for the finals. However, the Sri Lankans have by no means given up on the tournament, despite a loss to India in Hobart that could have left them demoralised.In his first series back in the captaincy, Jayawardene has the chance to guide Sri Lanka in to the best-of-three finals against Australia. To get there, they need either to beat Australia or share the points through a tie or an abandoned match, and while there will be showers in Melbourne on Friday it is unlikely there will be enough to force a wash-out.Jayawardene said the loss on Tuesday, when India picked up a bonus point and stayed in contention by chasing 321 within 37 overs, was less a result of poor Sri Lankan bowling than wonderful Indian batting, which was a good sign for his side. And with two wins from their last two games against Australia, Sri Lanka have a strong chance to progress.”Going in to the last game it’s in our control, what we need to do,” Jayawardene said. “It’s a good position for us to be, rather than depending on someone else to do some favours for us.”From where we started on this tour, I think we’ve improved as a team and maintained a consistency. That’s very important for us going forward. Whatever happens tomorrow we will definitely get a lot of positives out of this. Our challenge will be to try and keep this consistency going, because if we play the way we’re playing now … we’ll win more matches than we lose. We’re quite happy with that.”One of the most impressive aspects of Sri Lanka’s series is that it has not just been the veterans who have stood up, although Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara were the centurions in the last match. Dinesh Chandimal has continued to develop as a dangerous middle-order batsman and Thisara Perera, 22, is second only to Lasith Malinga on Sri Lanka’s wicket tally, which pleased Jayawardene.”Going forward we’ve always wanted to have two or three allrounders in a team,” he said. “These guys are taking responsibility. Angelo [Mathews] in the long run will probably be more of a batting allrounder than a bowling allrounder. We’d like Thisara to be more of a bowling allrounder so it fits in well.”Plus [Farveez] Maharoof is a guy who can bat as well and he’s bowling pretty well, he just needs to have a bit more confidence in his batting. All these three guys will be good options for us going forward. We just need a couple of spinning allrounders to come through and we’ll have a really good balanced team.”Sri Lanka won’t have Maharoof for Friday’s game, however, after he suffered from lower back pain during the Hobart loss. His absence was a factor in Sri Lanka failing to defend their big total and Jayawardene said, while Virat Kohli had taken the match away from Sri Lanka, there were things his bowlers could learn from the experience.”The [fast-bowling] guys did go to their strength, which is yorkers and stuff like that, but I think they [Indian batsmen] handled that pretty well,” he said. “We didn’t try too many things, that was probably due to the way the Indians were batting as well … we probably just went with the momentum rather than trying to change it in the middle.”Those are areas in which we can improve as a team … bowlers taking a bit more time and maybe having a bit more of a plan about what they want to do. Even if it’s something out of the box, something totally different, there’s no harm in trying something like that – which we didn’t do. That’s something we’ve spoken about with the bowlers because you have to expect these kind of situations in the future, we have to be prepared. Every game is a learning curve for everyone.”

The Champions Trophy could go the way of the dodo as part of the ICC’s push to reorganise the global cricket calendar

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2011The Champions Trophy could go the way of the dodo as part of the ICC’s push to reorganise the global cricket calendar. The next edition of the tournament is supposed to be held in 2013, but Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said they were looking to have just one primary tournament in each of the three formats of the game”What we’re trying to work towards is a pinnacle event in each format,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive said at a press conference in Chennai. “So if we’re looking to our next cycle, we might think definitely about [losing] the Champions Trophy.”Another potential problem for the tournament is fitting it into the new Future Tours Program. In October, the ICC approved the creation of a league-style Test Championship and redrew the lines of one-day cricket as part of an extensive restructuring of the international game. The first play-off in the newly constituted Test Championship is now scheduled to be held in 2013, the same year as the next Champions Trophy.A one-day cricket league – mirroring the existing team rankings – will also be part of the FTP, starting in April 2011 and running over four years to culminate in the crowning of the first ODI league champion in April 2014. The league will run separately from the World Cup, further crowding the calendar.The Champions Trophy was first played in 1998 and has typically been held every two years since. The first two tournaments were intended to raise the profile of the game in the host nations, Bangladesh and Kenya. Australia won the last tournament in 2009

Graeme Swann’s 10-wicket match haul has catapulted him to second place in the ICC’s Test bowling rankings

Cricinfo staff17-Mar-2010Graeme Swann’s 10-wicket match haul in the first Test at Chittagong has catapulted him to second place in the ICC’s Test bowling rankings – the highest position for an English bowler since Steve Harmison reached No. 1 in August 2004.Swann sent down 78.3 overs in the match, conceding 217 runs and striking five times in each innings. When Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim’s four-and-a-half hour rearguard effort began to look threatening, he broke their 167-run stand, eventually dismissing both batsmen, and fittingly closing off the Test match with his dismissal of Naeem Islam.Swann’s stellar rise is made even more remarkable by considering the fact that he was in 23rd position only eight months ago. During this period, he has played 10 Tests and taken 45 wickets, including 14 against Australia and 21 against South Africa, and his consistent performances against such high-ranking opposition have contributed considerably to his ascent.”He’s got six five-fors in the last year alone, and he’s been fantastic,” said Swann’s England team-mate, Stuart Broad. “He waited a long time for his chance – eight years in the wilderness, as he puts it – but since he’s come back in, he’s looked dangerous, particularly in his first overs, and it’s been brilliant for the lads to have him in the bowling unit.”The whole side is delighted for him to be No. 2 in the world, and we all hope he gets to No. 1. It’s been good for the England side with him taking regular wickets – and the seamers can take a lot of credit for the pressure they build up at the other end – and it’s helped him to climb the ladder fantastically.”Swann ended 2009 – a year in which he took 54 wickets in 12 Tests – in third position, vaulting up from 11th after his man-of-the-match performance at against South Africa at Kingsmead, where he completed match-figures of 9 for 164. He had slipped to fifth before the start of the Bangladesh series, but rose once again after his tireless effort in the first Test.In a testament to his value to England, Swann has also moved up to third in the rankings for Test allrounders, edging ahead of Bangladesh captain Shakib al Hasan.For his part, Hasan has climbed to 15th in the bowling rankings, moving up three places, after recording match figures of 5 for 195 in the first Test. Mushfiqur, who scored 79 and 95 in the match, has jumped 12 places to 34th, with Tamim Iqbal rising three places to 37th and Junaid – who hit his maiden Test century in Bangladesh’s second innings – vaulting 12 places to 60th.

The PCB has also hired Simon Helmot and David Reid as fielding coach and mental performance coach respectively

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-2024Gary Kirsten will start his two-year stint as the head coach of the Pakistan men’s national side on May 19 in Leeds, the PCB announced in Lahore on Tuesday.This will give him three days with the players and other members of the coaching staff before the first game of the four-match T20I series against England, at Headingley on May 22. The series will be Pakistan’s last before the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA, where they begin their campaign with a game against USA in Dallas on June 6.”These are indeed thrilling times for Pakistan cricket, with a new administration and players who are driven to deliver solid results,” Kirsten said in a statement. “The upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 presents a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our skills and uphold Pakistan’s legacy as a formidable force in cricket.”However, success will require collective effort, meticulous planning and unwavering support for one another. With 19 other teams vying for the title, we must consistently outperform our rivals to realise our aspirations.”On a personal level, I’ve missed the experience of coaching at the international level and nurturing talented players to reach their full potential. I’m committed to working closely with the team to elevate their game and bring joy to fans around the world.”Kirsten’s most famous coaching achievement came with India, with whom he was head coach from 2008 to 2011 and won the 2011 ODI World Cup. He was head coach of South Africa for the two years that followed, and is currently batting coach of Gujarat Titans in the IPL.The PCB has also brought in Simon Helmot and David Reid as fielding coach and mental performance coach respectively. The board said Reid would join the side on May 20 and continue until the end of the World Cup, while Helmot will link up with the side on May 31. Aftab Khan, currently the fielding coach of the side, will “assume responsibilities of high-performance coach” for the World Cup once Helmot takes charge.Related

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“Ensuring the mental health and well-being of our elite cricketers is not just a priority, but a fundamental commitment,” Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB chairman, said. “Recognising that their performance on the field is intricately linked to their mental state, we have taken decisive action to provide them with the best support possible.”That’s why we’ve brought on board David Reid, a seasoned expert with nearly two decades of experience as a qualified mental health clinician. His track record speaks volumes, having successfully worked with world-record holders, Olympians and top-tier sports franchises like Chennai Super Kings, the Melbourne Stars and the Essendon Football Club in the AFL.”With his expertise in enhancing both functioning and performance, we are confident that our players will receive the comprehensive care they need to thrive both on and off the field.”Kirsten and Jason Gillespie were announced as Pakistan’s next white-ball and red-ball head coaches respectively last month. Gillespie will arrive in Pakistan in July, the PCB said, in time for the World Test Championship series at home against Bangladesh.

Heat prevailed and meet Renegades in a knockout final at Marvel Stadium on Sunday

Tristan Lavalette27-Jan-2023Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne emerged from T20 droughts with spectacular half-centuries before rain thwarted Sydney Thunder’s hopes of chasing down Brisbane Heat’s massive total in the BBL elimination final.Kicking off the finals series, Khawaja and Labuschagne combined for a 128-run partnership to power Heat to the highest ever total at the Sydney Showgrounds.Chasing 204, David Warner was in a belligerent mood with 36 off 20 balls to provide hope for Thunder before Sydney’s temperamental weather reared in the seventh over with the home side eight runs short under Duckworth-Lewis Stern calculations.Play was set to restart with Thunder facing a revised target of 90 runs off nine overs – they were already 52 for 1 after 6.5 – but the match was ultimately called off due to persistent rain.Heat prevailed and meet Melbourne Renegades in a knockout final at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, while Thunder’s see-saw of a season ended in disappointment.

Khawaja and Labuschagne smash Thunder

Khawaja’s impact for Heat since returning from Australia duty has mostly been through his captaincy, like when he helped guide inexperienced quick Spencer Johnson in high-pressure moments.He had only averaged 16 in six innings in a disappointing start for his new BBL franchise. But against his old team, who he powered to the title in 2016, Khawaja showed his liking for the big stage and put the foot down after the drinks break with an assault on spinners Chris Green and Usman Qadir. He was unstoppable with a slew of innovative strokes, including reverse sweeps, to devastating effect, but his best shot was a gorgeous straight six off Qadir.Khawaja fell short of a deserved century but his fluency seemed to rub off on Labuschagne, who had struggled with his timing as he played anchor before unleashing some inventive strokes of his own to notch his first BBL half-century in his 23rd innings.Labuschagne, who had averaged just 16 runs with a strike-rate of 104, hit his first six of the season when he clubbed seamer Daniel Sams over long-on in the final over. He repeated the dose three balls later to lift Heat past 200 before his 48-ball 73 ended on the penultimate delivery of the innings. Labuschagne proved a point to critics that his formidable longer format batting can translate into T20 cricket.

Pawson’s horror debut

Thunder were shorthanded without frontliner seamer Gurinder Sandhu, who injured his calf in his last game against Melbourne Stars. The 28-year-old Ross Pawson was thrown into the deep end with a debut in the elimination final.Nathan McAndrew’s struggles in the powerplay led to Pawson coming into the attack in the third over and he was immediately lined up. His first ball was carved through point for a boundary by Khawaja, who then smashed two short deliveries to the rope. A rattled Pawson then dished up a waist-high full toss to cap a 15-run first over in the BBL. He hoped his fortune might change when he returned in the 11th over but it only stirred the ruthlessness in Khawaja, who hit two sixes.Pawson, who had earned his call-up through solid form in local Sydney ranks, did show glimpses of rapid pace but just couldn’t get his length right and finished a tough initiation with 0 for 32 off two overs.

Warner starts fast before rain spoils the party

Unlike his mate Steven Smith, Warner had struggled in his long-awaited BBL return and averaged just 12.6 in five innings. But here, he started aggressively and took a liking to left-armer Johnson by smashing three boundaries in the fourth over. It was the best Warner had looked during this BBL season and he threatened to play a heroic knock before rain intervened to end Thunder’s season.

Stand-in captain hits 20-ball fifty after Phoenix bowlers succeed in dragging back Superchargers

Matt Roller17-Aug-2021Liam Livingstone’s six-hitting blitz led Birmingham Phoenix into Saturday’s Hundred final at Lord’s after a remarkable comeback with the ball set up a cruise to victory against Northern Superchargers at Headingley.Phoenix needed to win – or tie – to guarantee they would finish top of the group stage and qualify automatically for the final, and when Chris Lynn and Tom Kohler-Cadmore hit 65 off the 25-ball Powerplay, their chances of doing so looked slim.But their three pace-off options – Livingstone, Imran Tahir, and the self-proclaimed “fast spinner” Benny Howell – returned 5 for 61 between them in 60 balls, and Adam Milne’s death-bowling masterclass meant Superchargers limped to 143, with Kohler-Cadmore starved of strike towards the end of his 71.Related

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Livingstone then smoked the fastest fifty of the competition to date, off 20 balls, to break the back of the chase inside the Powerplay. His 92 not out was the joint-highest score of the Hundred, alongside Jemimah Rodrigues in Superchargers women’s opening game, and his 10 sixes were the most in an individual innings.Phoenix look set to welcome Moeen Ali back into their side for the final, with an update on his availability expected shortly, and included Tom Abell for the first time this season following his hamstring injury. Few pundits backed them at the start of the competition but their ultra-attacking strategy with the bat and their canny bowling attack have seen them top the group with six wins out of eight.Phoenix will play the winners of Friday’s eliminator at The Oval, between Southern Brave and Trent Rockets. Superchargers were already eliminated, and missed Adam Lyth and Harry Brook, both of whom tested positive for Covid-19 last week. They finish fifth in the men’s table.Pepsi’s fizzy pop
Phoenix’s cruise to victory looked a long way off when they were under the pump in the Powerplay, with Chris Lynn and Tom ‘Pepsi’ Kohler-Cadmore swinging for the hills and treating Pat Brown and Dillon Pennington with utter contempt. Kohler-Cadmore, left out earlier in the season, hit two sixes and a four off Pennington’s first set of five, while Lynn got after Milne in his second set.But it was Brown’s first – and only – set that went the distance. Brown is a canny slower-ball specialist whose quicker ball is clocked at around 87mph/140kph, but Kohler-Cadmore set himself for the variations and swung him for three sixes and two fours, taking 26 off the last five balls of the Powerplay – the second most-expensive set of the tournament.Spin to win
Howell and Tahir dragged things back when the field spread, finding some purchase from the pitch as the ball stuck in the surface. Livingstone, standing in for Moeen, brought himself on after 50 balls and it proved to be a turning point. He struck with his fourth ball, Lynn flashing an outside edge to short third, and after David Willey whacked him over long-on for six, Livingstone tossed the next ball up and caught a skier off his own bowling.Howell conceded a single boundary when Jordan Thompson swung him over long-off for six, but he picked out Allen on the rope three balls later. Kohler-Cadmore was stranded at the wrong end, Livingstone rattling through his final 10 balls in a row for nine runs and the dismissal of Dane Vilas, and Milne bowled 10 on the bounce at the death, conceding only seven as he nailed his yorkers at above 90mph/145kph.Livingstone tees off
Howell described the pitch as a “Powerplay wicket” at the interval, by which he meant that it was by far the best time to score runs with the field up. Phoenix lost a wicket early on, Will Smeed dragging on for a first-baller, but Livingstone and Allen were never likely to consolidate.Liam Livingstone swings for the hills•Getty Images

Livingstone pulled his fourth ball, from Callum Parkinson, for six over deep backward square leg and stayed in fifth gear for most of his innings. He hit Parkinson for two more vicious straight sixes in his next set of five, and when he swung three Willey balls out of four into the stands on the leg side, the required rate was down at 1.13 runs per ball by the end of the Powerplay.Allen toyed with Adil Rashid in his second set of five, swiping him back over his head for two fours and a six, and Ben Raine was the next lamb to the slaughter as Phoenix’s batters traded sixes. Parkinson returned to have Allen stumped but Abell ticked over then watched from the non-striker’s end as Livingstone scooped and drove Matt Fisher down the ground, then let out a scream of delight when he pulled his tenth six over square leg to seal their final berth.Livingstone was Phoenix’s first pick in the initial draft for the Hundred and has more than vindicated their faith in him over the last month. “I’ve felt a little bit more pressure since Mo’s gone away,” he said afterwards. “We’ve got a young, fearless line-up and we’ve seen some great talent coming through. We’ve proved a lot of people wrong in this competition.”Leading Phoenix into the final is the latest landmark in what has been a remarkable summer for Livingstone after his T20I exploits for England against Pakistan. “I don’t think I’ve seen an England batter burst on the scene quite like this since Kevin Pietersen,” Nasser Hussain said on Sky Sports. “In white-ball cricket, we have found another one. This guy can hit a seriously big ball.”

Club reports strong financial position in run-in to Covid-19 outbreak

George Dobell19-May-2020Lancashire have reported record financial returns in the history of a first-class county for 2019.Buoyed by a raft of popular international fixtures including an Ashes Test and a World Cup match between India and Pakistan, Lancashire reported earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of £7.6 million; a record figure for a county. That represents a tenfold increase since 2015. They club also reported turnover of £34 million and a net profit of £5 million. Both are club records.While those returns do not, perhaps, tell the entire story – Surrey, for example, do not report EBITDA – they do tell a tale of a club that were, before the Covid-19 crisis, enjoying a remarkable boom off the pitch at least.Following the £60 million redevelopment of Emirates Old Trafford, the club made more than £17.5 million from its international fixtures and a further £8.4 million from its conference and events activity. The Hilton Hotel, situated inside the ground, operated by the club and including 95 pitch-facing rooms, saw its average occupancy grow to 78 percent in only its second year of trading.Lancashire also oversaw an increase in Vitality Blast attendances – ticket sales were up 34 percent compared to 2018 – which included a sold-out Roses match for the sixth year in succession. They also broke their own record attendance for non-Roses matches three times in the campaign.”To generate in excess of £30 million of non-broadcast revenues is truly remarkable and, to put it in perspective, better than some Premier League Clubs,” Lancashire Chief Executive, Daniel Gidney, said. “These results are a record for published accounts, excluding minority interests and legacies, for any first-class county and make this a proud day for the Red Rose. 2019 was a landmark year for the club when years of investment in talent and the infrastructure of Emirates Old Trafford was rewarded and truly reflected in our financial results.”During the year, Lancashire also arranged new long-term banking facilities with Metro Bank. In doing so, they consolidated all their existing debt, significantly extending the repayment profile and reducing the annual interest burden.For the first time since 2010 – before the stadium re-development – Lancashire returned to a positive reserves balance of £1.7 million. The club also reduced its net current liabilities position in the year from £8.7 million to £489,008.While such figures are sure to take a huge dent in 2020, the strong returns in 2019 leave Lancashire better placed than many to weather the storm.”Clearly, these are now tough times as the Club navigates its way through the current COVID-19 pandemic, but these results at least help relieve that financial burden,” Gidney continued. “Our priority now is to work with our stakeholders to find a way for cricket to return as quickly as it is safe to do so. This will help us protect future revenues as much as possible and allow us to continue to invest in our infrastructure for the benefit of our members and supporters.”

They put on an unbroken 163-run stand to ensure Sri Lanka became the first Asian side to win a Test series in South Africa

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu23-Feb-2019
Sri Lanka arrived in South Africa in a state of utter turmoil – both on and off the field. After less than seven days of cricket, they have become only the third visiting side – after England and Australia – and the first Asian team to clinch a Test series in South Africa.It was Kusal Mendis, who spearheaded the famous win with a regal, unbeaten 84 off 110 balls in a chase of 197. He found an adventurous partner in Oshada Fernando, who struck 75 not out in 106 balls, and they peeled off 163 off 213 balls – the first century stand of the series to usher Sri Lanka to the target.When the day began, it was still anybody’s game: Sri Lanka needed 137 runs and South Africa eight wickets. But Sri Lanka eventually stormed to victory without losing even a single wicket.Mendis, in particular, rolled out one rollicking drive after another and collared South Africa’s seam attack. Once left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was recalled, Oshada twinkled down the track and launched him towards the sight screen. Mendis was the first to raise his half-century, off 52 balls, with a straight drive off Dale Steyn in the 29th over. Three overs later, Oshada moved to his maiden fifty in his fourth Test innings with a full-blooded back-foot whip between midwicket and mid-on off Maharaj.Rabada had cranked his pace up to speeds in the higher 140kph range, but Mendis and Oshada diffused his threat without much trouble. And when anything was remotely wide of off, they went after it like they owned it. Duanne Olivier hit the deck hard, like he has been doing through the summer, but Oshada took him on with daring hooks. What about Steyn? Mendis took him for a triptych of drives in his first over of the day, the pick of them a straight hit that nearly put Oshada in danger. And just like that, the hundred stand came off 126 balls.The closest South Africa came close to picking up a wicket was when Mendis flashed an outside edge, but Hashim Amla could not latch on to an overhead catch at first slip. Mendis was on 70 and Sri Lanka needed just 32 at that point. Mendis and Oshada knocked them off in fuss-free fashion to cap another monumental victory for Sri Lanka.

The West Indian smashed almost 75% of his team’s runs as Rangpur Riders secured their spot in the second qualifier in BPL 2017

Mohammad Isam08-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRaton Gomes

The wait for a Chris Gayle special in this BPL season is finally over. The West Indian smashed 126 – the highest score in the BPL – to eliminate Khulna Titans and power Rangpur Riders into the second qualifier. This was the first hundred of the season, Gayle’s fourth in the BPL, and 19th overall in T20 cricket. Khulna, whose young guns have been quite impressive, wilted in face of the six-laden onslaught.Gayle packed his 51-ball innings with 14 sixes and six fours, helping Rangpur hunt down 168 with 28 balls to spare. His 14 sixes is a new BPL record; Gayle bettered his own record of 12 sixes he had hit for Dhaka Gladiators in 2013.Too many shots spoil Khulna’s start
Opener Nazmul Hossain Shanto kickstarted the innings with three fours in eight balls before falling to an unnecessary hoick against Sohag Gazi in the fourth over. Afif Hossain drove his first ball over cover for four and slapped a six four balls later,but was bowled by Malinga in the following over.The trend continued: Mahmudullah struck two sixes and two fours in his 6-ball 20 before holing out to long-on. Khulna were 56 for 3 at that stage.Rangpur apply the brakes
The bowlers built on the early wickets and did not concede a single boundary from Mahmudullah’s dismissal in the seventh over to the 11th over. Klinger broke the shackles when he cut Bopara between point and third man in the next over. Two balls later, however, Bopara’s superb yorker castled Klinger for 21 off 26 balls.Khulna’s late charge
Nicholas Pooran and Ariful Haque then added 40 for the fifth wicket at a run rate of eight to perk up the side. The stand ended when Ariful fell in the 17th over for 29. Ariful had a life in the 14th over when both Mashrafe and the bowler Bopara let a skier fall between them at mid-off, but he failed to cash in.Carlos Brathwaite then continued his excellent form, taking 17 runs off Malinga in the 18th over, including a muscular six over extra cover. Malinga, though, flummoxed Pooran with a slower full-toss with the first ball of the last over. He gave away just one boundary of the last over to restrict Khulna to 167 for 6.Archer deal early blows
Gayle teed off with a brace of sixes but Jofra Archer removed Gazi and Brendon McCullum in the third over to leave Rangpur at 25 for 2. From thereon, it was the Gayle show.Gayle storm hits Mirpur
Gayle was severe on Archer, taking him for 20 runs in the fifth over, including a straight six. Abu Jayed was also hit down the ground in the next over before Mohammad Irfan’s legbreaks were deposited for two sixes in the seventh over – the first of which brought up a fifty off 23 balls. Gayle did not spare his West Indies team-mate Brathwaite too as Rangpur surged towards the target.He went onto bring up a 45-ball hundred when he worked Mahmudullah to deep midwicket for a single in the 14th over. He finished the chase when he slammed Shanto for back-to-back sixes in the 16th over.What they said
“I think it is called the Gayle storm. To be honest, he batted outstandingly. We didn’t bowl well up front, because we know about his power and capability.”