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Kulamani Parida, the veteran Railways offspinner, has announced his retirement after his bowling action again came under scrutiny in Railways’ Ranji Trophy match against Assam

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2010Kulamani Parida, the Railways offspinner, has announced his retirement after his bowling action was deemed suspect – for the second time in two seasons – in a Ranji Trophy match against Assam. Parida, 33, took 320 wickets at 28.68 from 108 first-class games in a career spanning 15 seasons.On Friday, he was called by umpire S Ravi on the fourth ball during his only over in Assam’s second innings. He had earlier bowled nine overs in the first innings without being called from the end where umpire Shavir Tarapore was officiating.Parida had gone through the roughest time of his career since being called at a Ranji Trophy game against Tamil Nadu last season. It is believed he’d wanted to retire at that time but was urged by his team-mates to try and remodel his action. He did so but found it difficult to find his old rhythm. However, Abhay Sharma, the Railways coach, had been confident about the offspinner’s abilities after Parida bowled in a local tournament and emerged without any question marks over his action.Against Assam, he couldn’t contain the runs in the first innings on a track on which scoring was difficult. He was not brought on to bowl in the second innings until the ninth wicket had fallen, in the hope that he would end the game on a positive note.The sudden turn of events took his teammates and peers by surprise. Railways captain Murali Kartik said it had been a very emotional day for the team, particularly for the Railways stalwarts like Yere Goud, Sanjay Bangar and himself, who had spent more than a decade with Parida. Kartik and Parida teamed up as teenagers when they joined the Railways together as 18-year olds. They had been room-mates ever since – in the Under-19s, in Ranji Trophy, in Duleep Trophy, in Deodhar Trophy. “I will miss him, we will all miss him,” Kartik said.Kartik said he’d always thought of Parida as “internally flawless”, adding that it was the name given by experts to diamonds of the highest carats, clarity and cut. “That’s what Parida is to me as a team-mate and a friend. I wish him a great and happy life ahead – he’s a good soul, he has always been generous and for his whole life always given. He deserves the best. He has carried the Railways attack for so long, we could always rely on him, and he has been one of our best.”Abhay, also a former Railways captain, said that he had been with Parida right from the offspinner’s teens and had also led him. “It is very unfortunate that his career had to end this way, and the entire team is feeling sad. The boys wanted to win against Assam for him, but were thwarted by the weather on the final day.”Amol Muzumdar, the Assam captain and former Mumbai batsman, who was at the crease when Parida was called, walked up to him at the end of the day’s play and told him not to look at this dark spot on his career. “Look at the match-winning spells you have bowled, and go out on a high.”

Angelo Mathews has admitted he was emotional after missing out by one run on his maiden Test century but said the experience would help him improve his game and be more careful the next time around

Cricinfo staff03-Dec-2009Angelo Mathews has admitted he was emotional after missing out on his maiden Test century by one run, but said the experience – he was run out – would help him improve his game and be more careful the next time around.”A first Test hundred is a big achievement for any cricketer,” he said. “It was very unfortunate I could not get it. But then that’s how it goes.”Mathews was short of his crease going for a second run after he pulled a ball from Sreesanth and set off for two but failed to beat Sachin Tendulkar’s throw from deep square leg to wicketkeeper MS Dhoni. The decision was referred to the third umpire and after what must have been an agonizing three minutes, Mathews was given the red light.”I thought there were two runs but I creased the bat deep on my first run, which is why I was run out.”Back in the dressing room I thought about for a bit longer. Then I recovered when we went out to the field. There were a few tears in my eyes as well but all the senior players rallied around me and said that it was part of the game. They told me I’d get more opportunities to score runs… It will make me more determined to score runs and to be careful the next time.”Mathews’ wicket led to Sri Lanka’s innings folding after 27 minutes in the day, after which India, led by Virender Sehwag, pulverised 443 off 79 overs by stumps. However, Mathews was optimistic that Sri Lanka could make a comeback in the Test.”India haven’t won this game, it’s just a matter of two to three wickets tomorrow morning and then we can get right back into it. There are three more days left and anything can happen.”When Sri Lanka resumed their first innings at 366 for 8, the plan was to score as many runs as possible. “I knew that Murali and Chanaka (Welagedera) can hang around a bit and with their support I wanted to get as much runs as possible for the team,” Mathews said.He came into the Test on the back of several batting failures but said he was not under any pressure from outside. “I was under pressure when I came into the Test as I had failed in my last three innings. I had to score some runs and get into some form and perform for the team. [But] There was no pressure for me to perform from outside or from the team, it was just that I had to prove that, playing as a number six batsman, I should score runs.”The team management doesn’t put pressure on me. They tell me to go out there and enjoy the game. I personally felt that I needed to score some runs for the team.”

Liam Scott’s brisk half-century boosted the home side’s total then the bowling attack was outstanding

AAP01-Mar-2025Nathan McSweeney’s game-changing cameo with the ball helped South Australia defeat Victoria by 64 runs to collect the state’s first one-day cricket title in 13 years.SA, with Harry Nielsen, Jake Lehmann and Liam Scott making half-centuries, posted 268 for 7 in Saturday’s battle for the inaugural Dean Jones Trophy.Victoria were bowled out for 204 in 43.3 overs in reply at Adelaide Oval as SA captured their first 50-over trophy since 2011/12.Victoria’s run chase, with Marcus Harris flying on 41 from 42 balls, was well on track at 74 for 1 in the 14th over. But McSweeney, who hadn’t taken a wicket all tournament with his gentle offspin, then provided an unlikely – and decisive – turn.Harris gave himself room to hit McSweeney through the offside, but smacked the ball straight to Jason Sangha at cover. In his next over, McSweeney dismissed dangerman Peter Handscomb for 1. The SA captain instinctively flung his right hand at a lofted straight drive, parried the ball, and completed a stunning catch on the second grab.Five overs later, Victorian opener Campbell Kellaway top-edged a pull shot from the bowling of Brendan Doggett and was caught by wicketkeeper Nielsen. Soon after, Sam Harper was taken by Nielsen when attempting a leg glance from Nathan McAndrew.Liam Scott struck an unbeaten 54 off 37 balls•Getty Images

Victoria had lost 4 for 30 in a sudden slide to 108 for 5 in the 24th over and were never in the hunt thereafter, despite captain Will Sutherland’s 50 from 52 balls.McSweeney finished with figures of 2 for 14 from four overs, McAndrew took 3 for 47 from eight overs and Henry Thornton claimed 4-27 from 9.3 overs to be named the first winner of the Michael Bevan medal as player of the final.In SA’s innings, Nielsen top-scored with 68 from 93 balls, Lehmann made 67 from 75 and allrounder Scott, the player of the tournament, finished with a flourish with an unbeaten 54 from 37 deliveries.Victorian captain Sutherland took three of the initial four wickets and veteran Peter Siddle claimed 3 for 40.SA made a solid start with openers Nielsen and Mackenzie Harvey putting on 44 runs before Sutherland struck in the eighth over. Harvey, who hit two fours and a six in his 23 from 23 balls, chopped on to his stumps when attempting to force through the off-side.Sutherland claimed Daniel Drew in the 14th over and McSweeney soon followed. When Sangha fell to Sutherland, SA were wobbling 118 for 4 in the 26th over, before Nielsen and Lehmann steadied with a 56-run partnership.Lehmann later combined with Scott for a brisk 67-run stand, with the latter reaching his half-century from 36 balls in a flurry featuring seven fours and a six.

Jos Buttler’s team have sealed qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy

Andrew Miller11-Nov-20232:12

Harmison: Buttler has to take ownership for the future

England 337 for 9 (Stokes 84, Root 60, Bairstow 59, Rauf 3-64) beat Pakistan 244 (Salman 51, Willey 3-56) by 93 runsEngland’s soon-to-be-deposed world champions bade farewell to the 2023 World Cup with a glimpse of their former domineering selves, as they marched to an emphatic 93-run win over Pakistan at Eden Gardens. The result means that Babar Azam’s men are officially out of semi-final contention.David Willey marked the final appearance of his international career with a sparky all-round display that included his 100th and final ODI wicket, and after Ben Stokes had underpinned an imposing total of 337 for 9 with his second forceful outing in quick succession, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid turned the screw on a spin-friendly surface to snuff out any pretence of a contest with four wickets between them.England vs Pakistan could have been one of the matches of the World Cup, and surely would have been had either team lived up to their pre-tournament expectations. Instead, both slipped out of the sidedoor among the also-rans, even if England’s second victory in quick succession did confirm them a seventh-place finish in the group-stage standings, and a place at the 2025 Champions Trophy – the most pyrrhic of consolation prizes.As for Pakistan, their despondent display began from the moment that Jos Buttler called correctly at the toss. With fourth-placed New Zealand streets ahead of them on net run-rate, their already slim chance of reaching the semi-finals had rested on putting a huge score on the board and routing England by 287 runs or more in response – which, to be fair, wasn’t totally outlandish given England’s experiences in the tournament so far.2:04

‘Shaheen has failed to deliver impact’

Being asked to bowl first, however, was a different matter. Once Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan had biffed along to 72 for 0 in the powerplay – England’s highest of the tournament – Pakistan already needed to be able to tick off that total inside three overs, and that requirement only rose exponentially with every additional run. Their eventual target of 338 meant their challenge would be officially snuffed out after 6.4 overs of their chase, by which stage Willey had reduced them to 30 for 2 with his 98th and 99th ODI wickets.From there the only way was down for Pakistan. Babar Azam miscued Gus Atkinson to midwicket to end his campaign as he had begun it against the Netherlands, while Mohammad Rizwan also provided an unwitting echo of past performances, as he galloped down the pitch to Moeen and seized up with cramp while the ball gripped to bowl him through his gate – a comedic reprise of his heroics against Sri Lanka earlier in the campaign.Regardless of the subplots, it was unquestionably England’s most complete performance of the World Cup. At the ninth time of asking, they got their batting tempo just right on what soon proved to be a sluggish black-soil surface, with a trio of half-centuries from Bairstow, Joe Root and Stokes interspersed with a clutch of unfettered cameos – including an admittedly jammy 27 from 18 balls from Buttler – that suggested that they had finally stopped worrying and simply reverted to hitting the ball as hard and as often as possible.Fifty six of Ben Stokes’ 84 runs came in boundaries•ICC/Getty Images

Bairstow, to be fair, hadn’t strayed far from that formula all tournament, but, after an underwhelming haul of 156 runs at 19.50 in his previous eight innings, this time he allowed himself time to gauge the pace of the pitch before signalling the charge with five fours and a six in the space of 16 balls after just one run from his first 11.His eventual 59 from 61 balls ended with a flat drive to cover off Haris Rauf, by which stage Malan, England’s most consistent performer in an underwhelming field, had already fallen on the reverse-sweep for 31. However, in taking England’s opening stand to 82 in the 14th over, the pair had at least spared Root a reacquaintance with the powerplay – a period of the game that, to judge by his 11 dismissals in 19 innings since the 2019 win, has seemingly had him spooked.Root’s bafflingly poor tournament would conclude with his third half-century in nine innings, and an overall haul of 276 runs at 30.66 that disguised the extent to which his game went missing in the crunch moments of England’s campaign. Even so, his 60 from 72 balls was still a long way removed from the standards to which he aspires – once again his timing on his trademark scoop over the keeper was noticeably awry – and until Mohammad Wasim offered up back-to-back fours to give his strike-rate a massage late in his stay, he’d managed a solitary boundary in his first 38 balls.Joe Root was happy to reverse scoop despite being bowled playing that shot in his last game•AFP/Getty Images

Root did, however, have familiar and indomitable company to mitigate his tempo. For the second match running, Stokes turned in the sort of performance that had been expected of him on his return to ODI colours. His 84 from 76 balls provided the impetus in England’s telling third-wicket stand of 132, although it might have been a different story had Shaheen Shah Afridi clung onto a return catch after suckering Stokes with a well-disguised slower ball.That moment could have sent Stokes on his way for 10 from 16 balls. Instead, it was the catalyst for an inevitable counterattack, as Afridi’s next ball was belted straight back over his head for four, followed by three more thrashes down the ground in his subsequent over.The harder Stokes came, however, the more apparent it was that his troublesome left knee was on its last sinews. At one point, after a bludgeon through the line off Wasim, it visibly locked up in his followthrough, but Stokes’ response was to get even more inventive with his angles, including an extraordinary tumbling reverse-sweep for six over backward point off Agha Salman, a shot last seen in his Headingley 2019 miracle.A second century in successive innings seemed to beckon as the range hits kept coming, until Afridi – back for the 40th over with the ball just beginning to reverse – landed a pinpoint first-ball yorker to pluck out his off stump. With Stokes booked in for surgery ahead of January’s Test tour of India, and given his prior absences from the ODI and T20I set-ups, that moment could well have marked the end of his involvement in England’s white-ball formats. It may not have been the glory he had envisaged after reversing his ODI retirement, but at least it was suitably removed from the ignominy that the team had embraced earlier in the campaign.David Willey struck with the new ball for England•AFP/Getty Images

And with a platform finally set for the middle-order, there was a chance too for Buttler to end his campaign on a high – although, in keeping with his troubling loss of form, he wasn’t entirely able to capitalise. He did at least unfurl his reverse-sweep for the first time in the tournament – an extraordinary indictment of his flatlining confidence – but having nailed the first off Shadab, he scuffed the second through Wasim’s clutches at backward point, then survived a second chance in the same over as Rauf at long-on trod on the rope after clinging onto a miscued drive.There was even time for Buttler to chop Wasim onto his own stumps without dislodging the bails, but just when it seemed the fates were feeling sorry for him, Rauf ran him out with a bullet shy from backward point, to draw a veil over an inglorious tournament haul of 138 runs at 15.33.With Brook chipping in with a hard-hitting 30 from 17, Willey marked his retirement with a lusty cameo of 15 from five balls, then carried that feel-good factor into his opening burst. His second delivery curled into Abdullah Shafique’s front pad to trap him lbw for a duck, and he had two in ten balls when Fakhar Zaman – the hero of Pakistan’s rain-affected chase against New Zealand – smeared to Stokes at mid-off for 1.Of Pakistan’s top-order, only Agha Salman, with 51 from 45, found a tempo remotely in keeping with the needs of a stiff chase, but Willey bagged him too in his second spell, caught at long-off for a satisfying 100th wicket. By then, the game was over as a contest, thanks to two other players who may well have just played their last ODIs. And if so, then Adil Rashid – England’s best player of a grim campaign – looks to have signed off with 199 wickets, after two more breakthroughs, including a sharp googly to bowl Saud Shakeel round his legs for 29.England’s margin of victory would have been more emphatic but for a carefree tenth-wicket stand of 53 between Wasim and No.11 Rauf, who belted three sixes in his 23-ball 35. But by then, both teams’ thoughts had drifted away to the what-ifs.

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy to be played between October 11 and December 2

06-Sep-2022The BCCI has awarded both Saurashtra and Madhya Pradesh an opportunity to compete in the Irani Cup during the 2022-23 season.Saurashtra will play the season-opener against Rest of India from October 1-5 at Rajkot, their home ground, while Madhya Pradesh, winners of the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy, will play their corresponding fixture from March 1-5 in Indore.The board issued a circular to all state associations, with the calendar along with venues for the 2022-23 season. There had been some miscommunication earlier when it was assumed MP would play the season-opening Irani Cup.The squad had also begun their pre-season training, with special emphasis on red-ball cricket, on the assumption that they would be playing this fixture.Saurashtra were belatedly awarded the game they were denied in 2020, when they beat Bengal to clinch their maiden Ranji Trophy crown. They were slated to host the Irani Cup the following week, but the game was postponed indefinitely owing to the onset of the covid-19 pandemic that led to a nationwide lockdown in India.Meanwhile, Kolkata and Ahmedabad will host the knockout stages of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), respectively. SMAT, the domestic T20 event, will take place from October 11 to November 5, while the VHT one-day competition will run from November 12 to December 2.Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot, Punjab and Jaipur will host the league-stage matches of the SMAT, while Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata and Ranchi will stage the VHT league fixtures.The BCCI is conducting a full-fledged domestic season in 2022-23 after truncated versions in 2020-21 and 2021-22 because of the pandemic.The season will begin with the Duleep Trophy, from September 8 to 25 across three venues – Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Chennai, while the Ranji Trophy – back in the home-and-away format, will be played from December 12 and February 20.

Super Kings CEO informs IPL that the entire contingent has gone into a week-long quarantine

Nagraj Gollapudi04-May-2021Wednesday’s IPL game between the Chennai Super Kings and the Rajasthan Royals has been rescheduled after the Super Kings informed the organisers that the squad had gone into a week-long quarantine from Monday.K Viswanathan, the Super Kings’ chief executive officer, told ESPNcricinfo that the franchise had written to the IPL informing them that the entire Super Kings contingent was isolating after it emerged that two people, including bowling coach L Balaji, had tested positive for Covid-19 after Monday’s round of tests.Related

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It is the second match to be rescheduled after Monday’s game between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders was also postponed after the Knight Riders’ spinner Varun Chakravarthy and seam bowler Sandeep Warrier tested positive for Covid-19.Incidentally, Viswanathan was originally part of the three people to test positive in the tests conducted on May 2, Sunday, which was a day after the Super Kings lost a last-ball thriller to defending champions Mumbai Indians in Delhi. Then, Monday’s round of follow-up testing cleared Viswanathan, but Balaji and the cleaner of the team’s bus tested positive for the second time in two days.”The IPL SOPs say if any member of the team is infected, the rest of the group needs to isolate for seven days. So we have informed the IPL on Monday,” Viswanathan said.Viswanathan confirmed that the rest of the Super Kings’ contingent had also been tested on Monday and everyone barring Balaji and the bus cleaner had cleared the tests. The Super Kings are scheduled to face the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Delhi on May 7 before moving to Bengaluru for three games, including a match against the Punjab Kings on May 9.

India’s strong position on WTC table makes it likely that they will agree to Australia’s proposal

Andrew McGlashan in Perth12-Dec-2019Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia chief executive, is hopeful that India’s strong position in the World Test Championship will help persuade them to play at least one pink-ball Test on their tour next year.
Cricket Australia has made no secret of their desire to keep pushing the expansion of the day-night format, with a suggestion that they would attempt to make two out of the four India Tests as floodlit contests.India did not play under lights on their previous tour but have recently staged their first day-night Test, against Bangladesh in Kolkata, which was pushed through by Sourav Ganguly after he became the BCCI president

MCG Shield match officially abandoned

The curtailed Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia at the MCG has now been officially abandoned after no alternative date could be found for a replay.
Each side will therefore be awarded three points along with the average bonus points accrued in the other two matches of the same round (1.64).
Peter Roach, Cricket Australia’s head of cricket operations, said: “Any rescheduling would have included all teams having significantly shortened, and unreasonable, breaks in the post-Christmas Shield window. Most affected would have been Western Australia and Victoria that would have played five matches (and potentially the final), each with shortened breaks.”

India comfortably lead the WTC with seven wins from seven Tests and are primed to secure their spot in the 2021 final at Lord’s.”I absolutely believe we should be playing one pink-ball Test in the Indian series next year,” Roberts said in Perth ahead of the day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand. “India to their credit are doing very well in this World Test Championship, and it’s highly likely that they will make the final in 2021. I suspect that will make it easier to schedule a day-night Test next season if India have relative certainty of making the WTC final, then there is less reason not to play a day-night Test and more reason to play one.”Also with Sourav Ganguly coming into the presidency of the BCCI, he’s been very proactive in scheduling the first day-night Test in India, and we saw that was a sellout in three days, which is very different to what the previous day series have looked at in terms of ticket sales. There is an openness from India and an understanding that it is good for cricket.”Which of Australia’s main venues miss out hosting India remains another big question. Melbourne, despite the ongoing issues around the pitch, remains highly unlikely to lose Boxing Day and the SCG is the traditional New Year venue, which leaves Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to fight it out for two matches. The one that misses out will likely host Afghanistan, although Tasmania has also put its hat in the ring for a Test in Hobart.ALSO READ: Two pink-ball Tests in a series ‘a bit too much’ – GangulyThe Australian team has made it clear that it wants to play the first Test of major series at the Gabba, where they haven’t lost since 1988. The 2018-19 series against India began in Adelaide.”It’s a challenging process,” Roberts said. “I think the great thing is there is genuine interest in all capital cities across Australia hosting Test cricket. The challenging thing we’ve got to work through is when there’s not as many Test matches as there are capital cities. We will work through that.”There will be different criteria. There is an art and a science to it. We look at historical attendances, we look at the playing side of things, it’s really important thing, especially for the first Test where the players have a very strong preference for the first Test of any major series to be played at the Gabba.”The lights come on at Eden Gardens for India’s first ever day-night Test•BCCI

Roberts also did not foresee a roadblock for getting India to Gabba: “I don’t see India being opposed to that, there is a lot to work through. But I don’t see India being opposed to any venue. What was speculated on the last India tour, that India refused to play at the Gabba, simply wasn’t true.”A more immediate issue is the state of the MCG pitches following the abandonment of the Sheffield Shield match last week. Roberts admitted that Cricket Australia had been among the voices pushing for more life to be brought back into the surface and sympthised with the position of head groundsman Matt Page. The first Sheffield Shield match of the season at the ground earned a “very good” rating while the second, which was impacted by cold and wet weather, was given a “good” grading.”It was unfortunate that a little too much moisture was put into the wicket for the last Shield game,” Roberts said. “In fairness to Matt and his groundstaff, they were urged to make the pitch more sporting by a number of parties, be it players, Cricket Victoria, ourselves, and credit to them for having the courage to test that. Fortunately, no players were injured in the process and ironically I think it places the MCC better to prepare the best possible deck for Boxing Day with the learnings from these last three Shield games.”While the staging agreement between CA and the MCC only goes as far as guaranteeing a Test at the MCG – rather than Boxing Day specifically – Roberts suggested its future for the iconic fixture was safe. “There are commitments to have a Test at the MCG and the SCG, that’s the depth of it,” he said. “What we do know is that there is a rich history around Boxing Day, we love that and respect that and we would really like to see Boxing Day Test continue at the MCG.”

Skipper’s 181-run stand with Rachael Haynes flattened the Pakistan bowling, after which Sophie Molineux’s 4 for 14 bowled Pakistan out for 123

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2018Meg Lanning latches on to a short ball•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Meg Lanning’s 12th ODI hundred in 68 innings helped Australia trounce Pakistan by 150 runs in the second ODI in Kuala Lumpur. Batting first, Australia posted an imposing 273 for 7. Left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux then ran through the Pakistan line-up with a 4 for 14 to bowl them out for 123, helping Australia go 2-0 up in the series with one match still to go. The win also put Australia two points clear at the top ICC Women’s Championship table.Pakistan displayed a marginally better show with the bat on Saturday after being skittled for 95 in the first encounter. But that was all thanks to opener Nahida Khan’s 114-ball 66, the highest score by a Pakistan batsman against Australia. The second-highest contribution was Sana Mir’s 15, while the rest of the batsmen crumbled once again.Chasing 274, they were 37 for 3 in the tenth over with Megan Schutt and Ellyse Perry doing the damage early on, after which Molineux came to the fore. Molineux took two wickets in her first spell to reduce Pakistan to 77 for 5 before coming back to break the 44-run sixth-wicket stand by Nahida and Sana. In her nine overs, Molineux bowled 48 dots. Eventually, Pakistan were all out in the 41st over with Ashleigh Gardner’s two wickets cleaning up the tail.Earlier in the day, Lanning opted to bat after winning the toss, and walked in when Alyssa Healy was dismissed by Diana Baig in the seventh over. Lanning then saw Nicole Bolton and Perry make the walk back, after which she combined with Rachael Haynes for a 181-run fourth-wicket stand that flattened the Pakistan bowlers. Haynes and Lanning were then dismissed in the 44th and 46th over respectively, as Nashra Sandhu helped Pakistan finish their bowling effort on a strong note.

England’s top-order plays the same familiar refrain, as West Indies’ best day of the series doesn’t quite finish with them in command

Alan Gardner at Headingley25-Aug-2017Ben Stokes, England’s first-innings centurion at Headingley, said the team knew their performance was “not one of our best days with the bat” after they were dismissed for 258. Having won the toss, England slipped to 37 for 3 and 71 for 4 against an improved West Indies before a half-century from Joe Root and Stokes’ 100 from 124 balls took them to respectability.Both players were dropped early on, with the tourists still proving fallible in the field despite an improved bowling display. Root went on to equal AB de Villiers’ world record of 12 consecutive Tests with a fifty or better, while Stokes negotiated a watchful start before unfurling some trademark shots during the afternoon and evening, as England then claimed a late wicket before the close to ensure an even day.”Their seam-bowling unit bowled a lot better than they did at Edgbaston,” Stokes said. “They made it hard work for us. The conditions were more in the bowlers’ favour today, there was always a bit of seam movement, and every now and then the ball swung. They managed to expose that today.

Roach unfazed by ones that got away

Kemar Roach led the way with a four-wicket haul as West Indies came back strongly after being beaten by an innings at Edgbaston last week and he admitted the players had a “point to prove”.
“We had a very open discussion in our team meetings and the guys were totally honest – we weren’t good enough in the first Test,” he said. “We have a point to prove in this Test and we’re going to try our best to go out there and play the best cricket we can.”
Roach’s personal haul could have been even better, with two glaring drops off his bowling allowing Ben Stokes to escape on the way to a hundred, but he was not in the mood to point fingers.
“It can be frustrating, you’re working hard to set a batsman up and chance goes down but no one drops a catch on purpose. It’s just a mistake, keep your head up and come again.”

“We said as a team in the changing rooms that it’s probably not one of our best days with the bat. But we never know if it’s a good score until the West Indies innings has finished. It’s 260 more than we had this morning, it’s all up to how we respond tomorrow, how we bowl and hopefully we can create a few chances.”Stokes might have edged Kemar Roach behind on 9, though technology was inconclusive, and then survived a straightforward chance without having added to his score when Kraigg Brathwaite could not hold on at second slip. He was rarely fluent and could also have been dismissed on 98, when Shannon Gabriel dropped a sitter at mid-on, but went on to his sixth Test hundred from the very next ball.”It’s always nice to [capitalise on a drop],” he said. “I guess you get some luck every now and again and to do well you need some luck on your side. On another day, they hold it and you’re walking off.”I found it quite hard to start with, it took me a while to get off the mark and I thought I had to change my normal approach to when I’m first in. I walked down the wicket and went deep in my crease … I got a couple away and thought it was a tennis-bally slow wicket, so if I’m to play my attacking shots it’s going to have to be at 100 percent rather than half-hearted.”Of the words he and Gabriel appeared to exchange after he was eventually caught behind a few balls later, he said: “It’s not the first time. It’s just part of the game, he was probably still annoyed at himself for dropping me on 98. There’s nothing to it, he’s got me out. It’s international sport, we’re all trying to do well so emotions can come out.”He also had high praise for Root, who might have been caught at slip on 8 but otherwise looked in excellent form in progressing to a landmark half-century in front of his home crowd before edging an attempted paddle sweep off Devendra Bishoo.”He’s a hell of a player, he has been for a long time now,” Stokes said. “The captaincy hasn’t affected his run-scoring ability whatsoever – if anything it’s made him into a better player, if that was possible. There’s guys around the world who are known as the best players in the world and we’ve got one of them, if not the best. The records that he’s managed to break, the runs he’s scoring, is showing why he is.”

Andrew Poynter, the Ireland batsman, has announced his retirement from international and inter-provincial cricket at the age of 29

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jun-2016Andrew Poynter, the Ireland batsman, has announced his retirement from international and inter-provincial cricket at the age of 29. He had been part of Ireland’s T20 squad at the World T20 in March, but had not played ODIs since September 2014.Poynter played 19 ODIs and 19 T20Is in an international career that began in 2008. He scored a combined 474 runs and three half-centuries, averaging 19.61 in ODIs and 19.90 in T20Is. He featured in two World T20s, with his brother Stuart, a wicketkeeper-batsman, also part of Ireland’s squad in the 2016 edition.”I have always found it tough to manage an international and inter-provincial cricket career whilst having to juggle running my own business, AP Sports,” Poynter said. “I’m head of youth coaching at Clontarf CC and have other coaching roles as well as a young family.”I feel that I can still perform at inter-provincial level and scored runs this season, but I do not want to stand in someone’s way who has a dream of playing for Leinster Lightning and Ireland.”I am looking forward to developing my coaching career – I have nearly finished my level three award and [am] keen to move to level four in the near future. But most of all spending more time with my family with a bit less stress.”I am so proud of my achievements in an Irish jersey, especially captaining my country and playing in two World Cups. I’ll miss the green jersey but this is the right decision for me. I’d like to thank all involved in giving me the opportunity to pursue my dream.”