Group items tagged

The visitors built a huge first innings total, largely due to a century from Pavan Rathnayake, and Australia A's hitters faced a searching test to salvage their two-game series against Sri Lanka A in Darwin. Sri Lanka A totally retaliated against rival captain Jason Sangha's decision to put them in by advancing to declare 486 for 6 on day two of the second four-day match, having started at 263 for 4. At the Marrara Cricket Ground on Monday, the hosts were 76 for 1 at stumps, with Jake Weatherald at 45 and Kurtis Patterson at 19. The first game was tied, leaving them with a mountain to climb to win the series. Nathan McSweeney, the former Test opener for Australia A, was bowled between bat and pad by offspinner Nishan Peiris for 12, failing to duplicate his excellent 94 from the first game. When Rathnayake returned at 43, he took full advantage of a perfect batting strip to reach 122 off 223 balls, his team's second century after Nuwanidu Fernando's 102 on the first day. Sonal Dinusha, who returned on five, joined the run-fest by reaching 88 off 191 deliveries. In 53 overs, he and Rathnayake contributed 170 for the fifth wicket. Rathnayake was tempted into a reckless clip to short midwicket by left-arm spinner Zanden Jeh, who was superbly caught low down by Oliver Peake, ending their stand. Dinusha and Sohan de Livera kept punishing the bowlers, scoring 40 runs in 14 overs when Patterson caught Dinusha at mid-on after he mishit a lofted pull. Zeh, a 22-year-old unknown who was the best of the eight bowlers deployed despite never having played state cricket at the highest level, took a third wicket as a result. As Australian officials continue to look for good left-arm spinners, the Queenslander was selected from the left-field for the opening match. De Livera finished 50 not out at the time of the declaration, being the fifth batter to reach a half-century or more. McSweeney was bowled between bat and pad after hitting two fours in his 20 balls. The home te

Nat Sciver-Brunt, the captain of England, scored 98 runs in the final of the three-match series against India in Durham, regaining her position at the top of the ICC Women's ODI Batting Rankings. In what turned out to be a losing effort, the all-rounder stabilized the batting when the openers' early wickets fell, and India won the match by 13 runs and clinched the series 2-1. Sciver-Brunt took the top spot for the third time in her career after defeating Smriti Mandhana by three points. She had previously held the top spot from June to December 2024 and from July 2023 to April 2024. Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of India, moved up 10 spots to 11th place in the batters' list after her brilliant and game-winning century (102 off 84 balls). Richa Gosh rose nine spots to 39th position with a career-high rating of 516 points, while her teammate Jemimah Rodrigues rose two spots to 13th. Other changes in this week's report include the Ireland vs. Zimbabwe series in Belfast, which the home team won 2-0. Following hits of 50 and 67, Player of the Series Orla Prendergast moved up 12 spots to a career-best, joint-22nd position. In addition, she broke into the top 10 of the all-rounders' list from 13th position last week and moved up 10 spots to 33rd among the bowlers, reaching a personal-best rating of 447 after taking two wickets for 20 in the opening game. Ireland's players also had some notable improvements. Amy Hunter rose two spots to 28th place in the batters' list, while skipper Gaby Lewis went up one spot to 17th. Teammate Modester Mupachiwana has moved up two spots to 53rd place, while Zimbabwe's skipper, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, has reached a career-high 40th position with rating points of 513 thanks to her 48 and 56 scores. The second and third games in the three-match T20I series between Ireland and Zimbabwe in Dublin, where the visitors were once again thoroughly thrashed, are also included in this week's edition. Lewis was the series' top batsman, hit