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Shai Hope has the potential to be a “great” player, according to West Indies coach Stuart Law.Hope came into the series against England averaging just 19.57. But he played a huge role in the victory at Headingley with a century in each innings and has impressed Law both with his talent and temperament.While 23-year-old Hope had long been recognised as a talent within Caribbean cricket, there were a couple of moments at Headingley when Law was impressed by his composure under pressure and his hunger for further success.One of those came before play on the final day.”I remember sitting down next to him in the dressing room before the last day and said ‘Look, the plan is we’ll bat to tea, see where we are and if we’ve got wickets we’ll work out if we’re going to have a go or not’,” Law said.”He looked at me and I said ‘What’s wrong with that?’ He looked at me again, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and I said ‘Okay, what’s your plan?'”‘We’re going to win’, he said. That’s God’s honest truth. And he went out and won the game.”He’s a rock. He’s a guy with a lot of talent who looks very good at the crease. We hadn’t seen that in international cricket, but Headingley showcased his talent.”The other moment that impressed Law came after victory was achieved. Instead of wild celebrations, Hope remained calm and controlled.”I think the fact he wasn’t over the top in his celebrations just means he’s hungry and he’s driven,” Law said. “He doesn’t want to stop where he’s at now; he wants to keep going. I think that’s a great sign.”The challenge for Shai is to stay fit and healthy. If he does that, with the drive he’s got and the mental toughness and will to work, that will just make him better and better. He’s pretty good now, but he’s got the potential to be great.”Law hoped the success of Hope and Kraigg Brathwaite would inspire their team-mates and suggested the side’s success might convince some of their detractors – not least Nasser Hussain, who wrote a newspaper column that underwhelmed the West Indies dressing room – to think again.”There’s probably a couple that doubted their ability to cope at this level,” Law said. “But I hope those doubts are now well and truly put to bed and they can start flourishing.”I thought guys like Chris Woakes, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled the house down at Headingley. And we had answers to them. It’s not the fact that they under-estimated us: we actually stood up and competed against some high-quality batting and bowling, so credit where credit’s due.”Nasser’s entitled to his opinion: people make assumptions all the time. But he doesn’t know the group of players. I think it was great we sent a big humble pie to go and chomp on in the commentary box.”Meanwhile West Indies captain Jason Holder reassured the people of the Caribbean they were “in our thoughts and prayers” as they prepare for Hurricane Irma.”Please take all necessary precautions as you prepare for this hurricane,” Holder said. “Our love and our wishes go to everybody in the Caribbean as you go through this tough time.”

Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Chaminda Vaas has become the latest insider to criticise the country’s domestic system, drawing particular attention to its tendency to produce pitches unsuited to quick-bowling.Of the top 15 wicket-takers in the most recent first-class season, 14 were spin bowlers. In the previous Premier League Tournament season (2015-16), the most successful fast bowler had been placed at 15th overall – only two seamers entering the top 20. It is not unusual for spinners to take the new ball in first-class cricket, where dustbowls are routinely prepared, especially towards the end of the season.”We can’t be satisfied with the way first-class cricket is,” Vaas said. “We need to make first-class cricket work for fast bowlers. We talk a lot about what ails first-class cricket, but no matter how much we talk, the issue hasn’t moved forward.”It is widely believed that it is partly because of the poor nature of domestic surfaces that Sri Lanka do not possess a well-honed battery of quicks. Promising fast bowlers are generally picked in the academy, but must largely develop at the A-team and international levels.”If we want to improve our cricket and increase the number of fast bowlers we have – if we want to do justice to our cricket – we need to make pitches that are suited to fast bowlers,” Vaas said. “If we do that I trust that our bowlers would be better off than they are now.”Sri Lanka’s meagre fast-bowling depth was of particular relevance in the ongoing Pallekele Test, in which Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando were the frontline quicks, following injuries to Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal. Fernando is playing only his second Test match. Kumara, 20, is playing his seventh Test, but has played only three domestic first-class games in his career, having been in the Under-19 team only a year ago.”They need to play more, I think,” Vaas said. “If you take our first-class cricket, they don’t have enough first-class experience to play well. If you take quicks from any country, they start bowling well after they have played 20-25 Tests only. We can’t suddenly expect a lot from Vishwa and Lahiru Kumara. It’s with their mindset that they can improve. They need to practice a lot and play a lot of games. With that match experience only they will develop.”First-class surfaces have been unduly spin-friendly for at least five seasons now, and two seasons into their tenure, the SLC board headed by Thilanga Sumathipala has failed to bring about meaningful change to domestic pitches. Sumathipala has conceded the surfaces are a problem area, however. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo in May, he said the board would make improvements on that front.”Next year we’re going to have independent curators approving certain wickets,” he had said. “It’s all costing us money because we have to retain a lot of people.”According to Sumathipala, part of the problem is that some first class clubs – such as Badureliya CC or Ragama CC – do not have grounds of their own, and are forced to hire grounds for their home matches. Those venues, in turn, are not adequately maintained, said Sumathipala.”We’re putting the grounds on notice. By June or July, we’ll tell them they need to have good wickets ready by September. They have to put the top dressing and so on. It takes about three months. Hopefully next year we’ll have some better wickets. We’re importing rollers. We would like to have more of those three-ton rollers, because that is important to getting an even surface. We’ve asked our curators to go around and give the ground staff some training. We need to give some infrastructure assistance to the clubs. By the time we get to September, they’ll be sound.”His board, however, has done nothing to cut down the number of first-class sides, which may help ease pressure on the common grounds that are on rotation in domestic cricket.

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‘I knew Morkel was out’ – Moeen on the hat-trick review

The 100th Test match at The Oval concluded with a wonderful piece of theatre when Moeen Ali completed England’s victory in the third Test against South Africa with a hat-trick. It was the first hat-trick in a Test at The Oval and, even more remarkably, the first by an England spinner for 79 years. Quite a way to complete a 239-run win.England might not have the most illustrious list of spin bowlers in the history of Test cricket, but they have had a number of highly regarded operators since Tom Goddard briefly brought a bore draw in Johannesburg to life on Boxing Day 1938, less than nine months before the outbreak of World War 2.Moeen, whose talents are often underplayed, even by himself, achieved that accolade in the 12th over of the afternoon session, having Dean Elgar and Kagiso Rabada caught at slip and then, with the first ball of his next over, Morne Morkel lbw – this, to add to the drama, after an England review. There are a few nitpickers who claim, of course, that hat-tricks split over two overs are somehow not pure: they should be waved aside peremptorily.Elgar was battered, bruised and not quite unbowed. Long before he departed, that England would take a 2-1 lead to Old Trafford for the final Test, which begins on Friday, looked inevitable.He had put up the doughtiest of resistance, eighth out, for 136 from 228 balls, driving at a delivery from Moeen that turned out of the rough and giving Ben Stokes a simple catch at slip. This was single-handed defiance. Only Temba Bavuma, with 32, offered lasting support as South Africa succumbed for 252 as mid-afternoon approached.Rabada obligingly fell at slip, first ball, catching practice for Stokes as Moeen tossed one up and invited him to do his worst. Remarkably, Moeen was the third England bowler on a hat-trick in the innings, following Toby Roland-Jones and Stokes, the latter then bowling an over in a failed attempt to take the final wicket.Moeen’s next ball thudded into the shins of Morkel from around the wicket, umpire Joel Wilson stood impassively, not even the hint of an eyebrow flicker. Wilson does impassive as impressively as any umpire on the circuit. England reviewed and replays predicted that the ball would have smashed into leg stump to bring hugs of delight and cheers from a modest fifth-day crowd. Even Moeen, who favours a somewhat melancholy look, was animated.Moeen Ali is hoisted after completing his hat-trick•Getty Images

Four down overnight, South Africa lost Bavuma and Vernon Philander midway through the first session in successive balls to Roland-Jones, whose productive Test debut brought 8 for 129 in the match and enhanced his reputation as an England support seamer. He could yet tour Australia this winter and he might as well because with a run that long he is already halfway there.The addition of Chris Morris from the last ball before lunch completed a satisfying morning for England. Moeen’s return to the attack looked like tokenism, a quick six balls to ensure the pasta didn’t go cold, but he found slight turn out of the rough and Stokes held a comfortable catch at first slip. Elgar’s agonised look to the skies spoke volumes. As for Moeen, it was his first wicket of the match and he would have had no great ambitions for many more.Elgar, 72 not out overnight, had withstood some blows on his bottom hand on the fourth evening – he would settle for a diagnosis that his finger was merely bruised once the Test is over – and he was battered again in the fifth over of the day as Stokes worked up a good head of steam.His response could not have been more defiant. Stokes followed up with two successive bouncers in the same over and Elgar pirouetted to strike both through square leg for four. It was as graceful as he gets, if unlikely to win him an audition at the Royal Ballet.Bavuma played with poise and restraint in reaching 32 before Roland-Jones rapped his front pad as he pushed forward. Umpire Aleem Dar rejected the appeal, but Roland-Jones was adamant it was pad first, persuaded Root to opt for a review and was rewarded as Hawk-Eye came down in his favour.Dar’s decision on Philander was more straightforward as he left a length ball, the third dismissal for a South African batsman because of a leave-alone in this match, after the skipper Faf du Plessis having contrived to do it twice.Roland-Jones came mightily close to achieving the first Oval hat-trick that Moeen was to claim a couple of hours later. The delivery was the best of the three, rising and leaving Morris from a good line, Keaton Jennings and Stokes converged in voracious dives from third slip and gully respectively, but the ball fell a foot short of gully.Elgar reached his century in the next over by coming down the pitch and battering Moeen over mid-off, although his satisfaction was tempered by the knowledge that South Africa had just tumbled closer to defeat.So South Africa fell, only Elgar taking a respectable series average with the bat into the Manchester Test. Du Plessis had so far managed to avoid defeat in a red-ball Test as South Africa’s captain.He was absent at Lord’s in the first Test to be at the birth of his first child and South Africa’s defeat in Adelaide last year was a day-night affair with pink balls in use. But this defeat was emphatic and for England, who went into the match with the reputation of a side overly wedded to attack, it had been a victory immensely rewarding in its discipline.

England look set to name an unchanged team for the second Test, but the sight of Chris Woakes and Jake Ball back in training suggested selection could become highly competitive before the end of the summer.Woakes and Ball, who have so far missed out on selection in the series against South Africa due to injury, both enjoyed a gentle bowl at Trent Bridge as England prepared for the second Test that begins on Friday.While neither are ready to return just yet, Mark Wood – who returned to the side for the first Test at Lord’s – admitted he might not have made the side had they been fit, and accepted that the battle for places could become intense when all are available.Wood’s hope is that he can, for the first time in his career, play three Tests in succession in the same series. While he has played four successive Tests, he has only managed to do when there has been a gap of several weeks between series. And he admits that, so concerned was he by the injuries he has suffered in the past, that he thought his Test career might be over.”It’s no secret that I thought Test cricket was probably gone at one stage,” Wood said. “One wicket at Lord’s might not sound good but I was pleased with how I bowled and it was a proud moment to come back in the Test arena.”We have bowlers waiting in the wings. Probably if they were fit, I wouldn’t have played. Chris Woakes had a great year and it will be interesting to see what happens when he’s back playing.”The challenge becomes to prove to you guys, to my team-mates and the coaches that I can play three in a row. I have to keep these guys out of the team and that’s the challenge.”I feel good, which is rare for me. It’s surreal to back games up and not worry but I’m delighted.”Wood, at least, has happy memories of Trent Bridge. Not only did he claim the Ashes-clinching wicket of Nathan Lyon here in 2015 – Lyon tried to leave one but dragged it on to his stumps – but he has claimed 15 wickets in three first-class matches there for Durham, including one of his six five-wicket hauls (5 for 78 in 2012) and one of his two half-centuries (58 not out in 2013). Oddly, his three games there were his first three Championship matches.”Yes, it’s nice to be back here,” he said. “When you’re struggling, you visualise times when you’ve done well. This is a ground where I’ve always done well here, even for Durham. The night before, if I’m selected, I’ll be thinking about that and visualising running in.”Wood was delighted to contribute with the bat at Lord’s, too. He added 45 for the ninth wicket with Jonny Bairstow in a low-scoring second innings and said he was once described as “the best No. 10 since Pele”.”I slogged it at Lord’s, but that was the way to go on that wicket,” he said. “When I first got into the Durham team I batted at No. 10 and Jon Lewis, the coach at the time, said I was the best No10 since Pele. I’ll take that.”There is a slightly unusual look to the pitch to be used in the second Test. While it is a fresh surface – the same surface that was used for the 2015 Ashes Test in which Australia were bowled out for 60 on the first morning – it has an oddly mottled look, as if it has been used recently. Local knowledge suggests there will be movement and decent carry for the seamers.Woakes and Ball were not the only familiar faces on view on Wednesday. Paul Franks and Ant Botha, Nottinghamshire’s assistant coaches, were also involved – the England camp like to provide opportunities for county coaches to learn from their methods and provide some fresh views as appropriate – while Nottinghamshire’s young batch of seamers (notably the distinctly brisk Jack Blatherwick and Matt Milnes) impressed in the nets.Chris Read spent a while working with fellow keeper Jonny Bairstow and Matt Carter, the 21-year-old offspinner who claimed 7 for 56 on first-class debut in 2015, also bowled in the nets. Kevin Sharp was also part of the coaching team.Jimmy Anderson did not bowl but the England camp insist he is fine and had simply elected to rest. With 53 wickets in eight Tests at an average of 19.24 at the ground, he will have liked the look of this surface.

Phil Jaques has stepped down as coach of Queensland to return home to Sydney, where he will take up a position as batting coach of New South Wales. Jaques, the former New South Wales opener who played 11 Tests before his career was curtailed by back problems, has spent two years as head coach of Queensland.”Phil has stood down for reasons that resonate for many, and he goes with our blessing and best wishes,” the Queensland Cricket chief executive Max Walters said. “He and his wife Jessica have a young family and, after making a successful transition from player to head coach, he has made the decision to put his family first and return to Sydney to be closer to their extended family support network.””Once Phil explained his decision, we contacted Cricket NSW and have worked with them to secure a coaching role for him in Sydney with NSW. In the short-term it will be a blow losing him, as his passion, attention to detail and appetite for work were exceptional whilst he was in the Bulls role. He focused on developing Queensland’s young talent and that investment in a new generation of players will stand Queensland and Australian cricket in very good stead in the years ahead.”Jaques said: “Stepping down was a very challenging decision to make, and not one that I made lightly, but I know it was the right one for my family and me. I have enjoyed the chance to coach at a high level with Queensland and stand aside with the knowledge that there are a number of very special players in the group who have bright futures. I congratulate the players, coaches and support staff for working hard and buying into what we looked to achieve with the group and wish them all the best as they tackle the coming season.”Prior to joining Queensland in 2015, Jaques had served as an assistant coach with New South Wales. The Cricket New South Wales chief executive, Andrew Jones, said the state was lucky to have Jaques back.”I am delighted that Phil Jaques is returning to Cricket NSW,” Jones said. “He developed the nickname “Pro” during an impressive playing career because of his meticulous approach and has taken that into his coaching career.”Phil left NSW to be head coach of Queensland two years ago having done an outstanding job as Blues assistant and batting coach and we are very lucky to have him back.”

Match facts

Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab
Kolkata, April 13, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)

Form guide

• Kolkata Knight Riders: lost to Mumbai Indians by four wickets, beat Gujarat Lions by 10 wickets

• Kings XI Punjab: beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets, beat Rising Pune Supergiant by six wickets.

Head to head

Last season Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers handed Kings XI Punjab’s batsmen seven single-digit scores in their first meeting in 2016 to set up a six-wicket win in Mohali. The same trend continued at Eden Gardens when Andre Russell took a four-for to successfully defend a total of 164 despite a Glenn Maxwell half-century.Overall Knight Riders have beaten Kings XI in all seven of their most recent matches in the IPL to set up a dominant 13-6 lead. The record is 6-2 in Kolkata.

In the news

Knight Riders have lost Chris Lynn for a “substantial” time, and while that is a loss, it could also mean that Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa are reunited at the top of the order. Their opening partnership has tallied more than 400 runs for three seasons straight. Additionally, fast bowler Umesh Yadav has recovered from his hip and lower back niggles and might well be up for selection. It is also highly likely that Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan will make his way back into the playing XI. They also have West Indies batsmen Darren Bravo and Rovman Powell in the reserves.Ahead of what will be the first IPL game to be played at a re-laid Eden Gardens surface, most of the talk has been about how the venue has become a lot more seamer-friendly. If that is true, New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme might get a game. A medium-pacer known to extract sideways movement, he also has a batting strike-rate of 171.Kings XI appear to have no injury worries. They might consider Ishant Sharma in place of Mohit Sharma, but having won both their matches so far in this new season, are likely to retain the same XI.

The likely XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Robin Uthappa (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Umesh Yadav/Piyush Chawla, 11 Trent Boult.Kings XI Punjab 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Mohit Sharma, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 T Natarajan.

Stats that matter

• Chasing seems the sensible thing to do at Eden Gardens, according to numbers from the last IPL season. The average score batting first in 2016 was 157, and five out of six night games were won by the team batting second. The odd one out were Kings XI, who fell short by seven runs.
• David Miller averages 54 with a strike-rate of 147 in the second innings as opposed to 28 and 139 in the first. Yusuf Pathan averages 37 with a strike-rate of 153 in the second innings as opposed to 27 and 137 in the first. In 2016, Glenn Maxwell averaged 52 with a strike-rate of 162 batting second but those numbers fell off a cliff when he batted first: average 3.83, strike-rate 82.
• Kings XI have been the most generous team in conceding scores of fifty or more to opposition batsmen. The overall number is 118; Knight Riders have contributed 17.
• Although Axar Patel has been their designated floater, Wriddhiman Saha could possibly have a go at the top of the order on Thursday. He has smashed Sunil Narine at a strike-rate of 144 and Piyush Chawla at 156.
• Saha batting higher might help in other ways too. He could conceivably keep Maxwell and Miller from facing spin early in their innings. Maxwell has lost his wicket twice in 24 balls to Narine and three times in 25 balls to Chawla. Miller has only faced seven deliveries from Narine in the IPL.
• Out of all the venues that have hosted at least 30 IPL games, Eden Gardens offers spinners the lowest average (26.32) and the second-lowest economy rate (7.30). But it all changed last year. The spinners did take more wickets at this ground than the others – with a cut off of at least five matches played – but the average went up to nearly 31 and the economy rate shot up to 8.20.
• Among all the batsmen Sandeep Sharma has bowled at least 30 balls to, Gautam Gambhir has the second-lowest strike-rate of 75.67 against him. Uthappa, though, has hit Sandeep for 51 runs in 38 balls losing his wicket only once.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKusal Mendis, who top scored for Sri Lanka with 54, was named Player of the Series for his 160 runs in three innings•Associated Press

Sri Lanka rode a fast start and a fast finish to a competitive score, bowled with discipline, and found some spirit in the field to defeat Bangladesh by 70 runs and snap a six-match losing streak that stretched back to January.Perhaps encouragingly for the hosts, the architects of the victory were many. Upul Tharanga and Danushka Gunathilaka cracked 76 runs in the Powerplay, Kusal Mendis contributed a half-century, Thisara Perera produced a finishing salvo, and virtually all the frontline bowlers delivered good spells – though Nuwan Kulasekara was the best among them, claiming 4 for 37.Bangladesh, meanwhile, will rue the batting collapse that cost them a series victory. Sri Lanka’s 280 was competitive, but achievable, on a surface that remained good enough to allow No. 8 Mehedi Hasan hit a maiden ODI fifty. However, the match had slipped from them long before Mehedi came to the crease. Three batsmen were out inside four overs, and though Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan staged a 77-run recovery, the middle order collapsed after that partnership was broken. At 11 for 3 it seemed unlikely they could hunt down the target, but at 127 for 7, the match was effectively sealed.The result saw the teams share the ODI series 1-1, just as they had shared the Tests. Two T20s are scheduled for next week.Kulasekara, who was added to the squad only after the series had begun, relied more on tight lines and intelligent bowling than his characteristic inswing to make incisions. He should have had Tamim Iqbal off the fourth ball of the innings, when an edge flew at a catchable height between keeper and slip – neither of whom attempted the catch. At times over the past few months, missed chances such as this have hurt Sri Lanka, but not today: Tamim sent Kulasekara a return catch two balls later.Sabbir Rahman’s dismissal in Kulasekara’s next over perhaps had more to do with the batsman’s loose shot, than good bowling – Rahman nicking a very wide ball through to the keeper. Kulasekara came back later to mop up the innings – dismissing Mehedi and Taskin Ahmed. These were his best ODI figures since November 2013.Bangladesh’s middle-overs capitulation – in which they lost four wickets for 39 runs – was largely the work of Sri Lanka’s spinners. Dilruwan Perera recovered from a 20-run first over to have Soumya stumped, then had Shakib caught at short cover a few overs later. Seekkuge Prasanna also bowled Mosaddek Hossain and Suranga Lakmal had Mahmudullah caught behind during this period.Through the course of the second innings, Sri Lanka also fielded better than they have all year, with plenty of sharp work in the infield, and visible pep among the boundary riders as well. The first-over missed chance off Tamim was their only real mistake.Bangladesh too, had squeezed Sri Lanka during the middle overs, but were not capable of preventing the final surge that propelled Sri Lanka to a good score. They had had the hosts at 230 for 7 in the 45th over, before Thisara and Dilruwan Perera bludgeoned 45 off 27 deliveries. Thisara built his innings with a little more intelligence than has recently been seen in his batting, laying low for a few balls before venturing his more ambitious shots. He hit four fours and a six in his 40-ball 52, but was constantly looking for the singles and twos as well.Earlier, it had been Tharanga that set the innings off apace. His runs came through delectable cut shots, and effortless drives. In the fifth over he played a pull shot off Mashrafe Mortaza that seemed languid to the point of being casual, yet the ball carried all the way over the midwicket boundary. After the Powerplay, Bangladesh would impose themselves on the Sri Lanka, first through good bowling by the likes of Mehedi and Taskin, but also through sharp fielding, with which they effected two run outs.When Mustafizur Rahman had Mendis nicking behind to leave Sri Lanka 194 for 5 in the 37th over, the hosts were in danger of squandering their good start. However, Sri Lanka’s unusually long batting line up bailed them out. Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain, collected the innings’ best figures of 3 for 65.

ScorecardFile photo – Sharad Vesawkar struck 24 off 11 balls after taking four wickets•Kaushal Adhikari

Four wickets from Sharad Vesawkar – his best List A bowling effort – and half centuries from stand-in captain Gyanendra Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee took Nepal to a comfortable seven-wicket win against Kenya in the ICC World Cricket League match in Kirtipur. Nepal’s bowlers, led by Vesawkar’s four-for, choked Kenya’s batting with some economical bowling before the hosts overcame an early stutter – courtesy two early wickets from Elijah Otieno – to eventually canter home with 118 balls to spare.After being sent in to bat, Kenya lost opener Alex Obanda and Dhiren Gondaria in the fourth over before a 79-run third wicket-stand between Irfan Karim (38) and Collins Obuya (48) took them close to the 100-run mark. While the duo stemmed the fall of wickets, their partnership also took up 140 balls. Both batsmen fell in quick succession, following which tight bowling from Mahaboob Alam (7-5-11-2), Sagar Pun (7-0-19-1) and Vesawkar saw Kenya fall from 151 for 6 to 155 all out in the 47th over. Prior to Monday’s win, Vesawkar had bowled just two overs in 21 List A matches but helped to fill a void with both bat and ball created by the absence of captain Paras Khadka, who missed his second match of the series as he recovers from surgery for appendicitis.Otieno gave Kenya hope, removing Nepal opener Sunil Dhamala and Sagar Pun in his first spell. Malla was joined by Airee at 14 for 2 and stitched together a 111-run partnership to take Nepal to the brink of a win. Airee fell for 62 with Nepal needing another 31 runs to win, and Vesawkar then shone with the bat, scoring an 11-ball 24 and dispatching the last two balls for a four and a six to seal the match in the 31st over.

Titans overcame an uninterrupted spell from offspinning allrounder Prenelan Subrayen, which read 15.4 -6-35-5, and a batting collapse to scramble to a two-wicket win in a small chase of 91 against Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg. The result handed Titans 17.96 points and lifted them to the top of the points table.Subrayen struck in his second over, having opener Aiden Markram caught behind for 5. Grant Mokoena, Dean Elgar, captain Henry Davids and Jonathan Vandiar all departed in a space of six overs to leave Titans reeling at 35 for 5 in 15.5 overs. Wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen followed his 195 in Titans’ first innings with 35 off 52 balls to briefly ease the nerves, before he was the seventh Titans batsman to be dismissed with the side 12 runs away from the target. Two overs later, Malusi Siboto became Subrayen’s fifth wicket, but Shaun von Berg and Junior Dala held on to complete a tense win.Klaasen stood out in Titans’ first innings too – scoring his seventh first-class hundred and nearly converting it into a double-hundred. He struck 23 fours and two sixes during his 195 off 353 balls. Von Berg pitched in with a half-century to help Titans to a 102-run first-innings lead after Dolphins, who had opted to bat, squandered a solid platform to be dismissed for 301 in the last over of the first day.The top three – Divan van Wyk, Senuran Muthusamy, Vaughn van Jaarsveld – all hit fifties, but 171 for 1, Dolphins crashed to 301 all out.In Dolphins’ second innings, it was the top order that collapsed. Davids accounted for the top three and when von Berg had Khaya Zondo lbw for a duck, Dolphins were 21 for 4 in 10.2 overs.Sibonelo Makhanya and Daryn Smit led the salvage job with a 94-run stand, but von Berg wrapped up the tail to finish with a match haul of six wickets. Dolphins were bowled out for 192 in 61.3 overs, setting Titans a target of 91.Von Berg then held his nerve with the bat – staying unbeaten on 1 along with Dala – to tip a thriller Titans’ way. Dolphins managed only 6.02 points and slipped from second to fourth.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said the quick fall of Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman – the set batsmen – cost the side in a chase of 196 in Mount Maunganui. Sarkar and Sabbir added 68 off 40 balls for the fourth wicket before both batsmen exited in a space of 10 balls. The double-strike triggered another Bangladesh collapse, this time they lost their last seven wickets for 44 runs and lurched to a 47-run defeat.”We were hopeful after they made 195,” Mashrafe said. “We were batting positively after losing three early wickets. We were on course to the target but lost the last seven wickets far too quickly.”They [New Zealand] made 15 extra runs at this ground where 180 is a par score. We had two set batsmen chasing well. So when they got out, the match got out of our reach. We did create chances with the ball by taking three early wickets but we didn’t attack with the wind and then defend when the batsmen were hitting down wind.”Although Sarkar’s wicket contributed to the slide, he briefly found form with 39 off 26 balls, including three fours and two sixes, after scores of 0 and 1 in his last two innings. In fact, it was Sarkar’s first 30-plus score in international cricket since March last year. Mashrafe termed Sarkar’s effort as a “positive sign” but rued the lost opportunity.”He [Sarkar] is back in runs after some time, so he must also be feeling better,” Mashrafe said. “But he lost an opportunity to make a big score. It would have helped us because he was playing their pace well.”While Bangladesh struggled to come to come to terms with the wind, Colin Munro used it an ally to hammer seven sixes during his 52-ball century.”Munro didn’t start off with his shots early because they had lost three early wickets,” Mashrafe said. “Munro was constantly targeting to hit down wind. We couldn’t stop him from doing that. We knew his style of batting. He got out off the first ball in the last game. We failed to take advantage of the opportunity we created ourselves. I don’t think it has anything to do with Munro or anyone. We have the ability to keep creating opportunities but we should capitalise on it.”