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Friday May 18, 2018
Kaieteur News
Williamson special in vain as de Villiers, Moeen keep RCB alive ESPNcricinfo - Kane Williamson’s rousing 81 off 42 balls - his eighth fifty-plus score in IPL 2018 - threatened to bring Royal Challengers Bangalore’s campaign to a screeching halt, but Mohammed Siraj defended 19 off the last over, which also included the wicket of the Sunrisers captain, to keep his team alive. Facing an IPL record chase of 219 at the venue of their title triumph two years ago, Sunrisers slipped to 64 for 2 in eight overs. Williamson then manipulated the fields and the bowlers expertly to bring Sunrisers to within touching distance of a magical win. With Sunrisers needing 20 off the last over, he jumped across off stump and scooped Siraj’s first ball straight into the lap of Colin de Grandhomme at the edge of the fine leg boundary. Siraj did not quite nail his lengths but got away with four runs and a leg bye off the last five balls. Earlier in the evening, AB de Villiers had also manipulated the fielders and bowlers expertly along with Moeen Ali in a 107-run stand off 57 balls, which formed the centerpiece of RCB’s 218 for 6. De Villiers then hit the high notes when he leapt high to pull off a onehanded stunner at deep midwicket. Understandably, he was Player of the match. Hit-or-miss Powerplay -
Kane Williamson ©BCCI
Parthiv Patel was reprieved first ball at cover by Deepak Hooda, but he added just one before top-edging Sandeep Sharma to fine leg. Virat Kohli began with a straight drive for four off Sandeep and swatted Rashid Khan to the midwicket boundary, before being bowled attempting a slog sweep off a googly. RCB were 44 for 2, in six overs, of which de Villiers had made 29. The super hero and his side kick - De Villiers found his groove right away when he jumped outside leg, created swinging room, and cut his first ball that was only fractionally short to the right of backward point. It was a
portent for how things would unfold. De Villiers slog-swept Shakib Al Hasan to the midwicket boundary and then hit back-to-back fours off Siddarth Kaul, the second of which brought him a 32-ball fifty. It wasn’t a one-man show, however. Moeen introduced his big hits and crisp timing to the IPL after warming the bench for more than threequarters of the season. Both batsmen launched into Thampi - they took 36 off 12 balls - but it was the lefthanded Moeen who was more comfortable against Rashid. He forayed down the track against a Rashid wrong’un
and hoisted the ball over the long-off boundary before belting a legbreak over his head. There were some mis-hits, too, which cleared the boundary as RCB moved to 144 for 2 in 14 overs. Against the run of play, however, the set pair fell to Rashid in the next over. De Grandhomme smashes ‘em - The last time these two teams met in Hyderabad, De Grandhomme showed signs of his power with 33 off 29 balls. He showed his entire range on Thursday and peppered the short boundaries at Chinnaswamy Stadium with four sixes. Not even the slower cutter was safe against him. When Thampi floated one
wide outside off at 97ks, de Grandhomme reached out for the ball and scythed it flat and hard over cover. Thampi ended up conceding 70 runs in four overs - the worst figures in the IPL. It took a blinding one-handed catch from Rashid to dismiss the New Zealand allrounder, but by then RCB had motored past 200. Sarfraaz Khan also did his bit with an unbeaten 22 off 8 balls as RCB pillaged 69 off the last five overs. Hales lives on the edge Alex Hales was on 19 when he pulled Umesh Yadav flat and hard to deep square leg, where Southee dived forward and wrapped his fingers underneath the ball to claim an excellent a low catch. The soft signal was out, but TV umpire C Shamshuddin somehow ruled it not out. After adding four runs, Hales drilled Mohammed Siraj towards mid-on, where Kohli threw himself to his left but dropped the difficult catch. RCB then needed de Villiers to pluck a catch out of thin air to get rid of Hales. When the opener swatted one over midwicket, the ball seemed destined to sail over the boundary until leapt to his right, stretched out his right hand and came away with the ball. All of this done with the balance of a tightrope walker. Yuzvendra Chahal had taken a more straightforward return catch to dismiss Dhawan for
18 off 15 balls. Another Williamson special - The highlight of Williamson’s stellar run this season has been game awareness. That came to the fore when he cranked up the tempo and struck five boundaries in six balls after Hales’ dismissal. The pick of the boundaries was a perfectly paced shovel-flick between wide long-on and midwicket. Just like that, Williamson raised a fifty off 28 balls. By then, Manish Pandey was going at less than a run-a-ball. The reintroduction of de Grandhomme in the 15th over provided him the release. From 6 off 12 balls, he went to 21 off 16 balls with two fours and a six. Pandey then glanced Chahal past short fine leg in the next over to help narrow the equation to 55 off 24 balls. An over full of wide yorkers from Tim Southee left Sunrisers needing 49 off 18 balls. With Williamson in imperious form, they were in with a good chance, but then he faced only eight balls in the last five overs before his dismissal and Pandey could not find his timing in the end. Royal Challengers Bangalore 218 for 6 (De Villiers 69, Moeen 65, Rashid 3-27) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 204 for 3 (Williamson 81, Pandey 62*, Chahal 1-28) by 14 runs
Preparation key to T20 World Cup title defence: Browne St John’s Antigua, CMC – Chairman of West Indies selectors, Courtney Browne, believes the regional women’s side are good enough to defend their title and win the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup for a second time. Browne made this assertion as the players continued their preparation camp here for the global event, to be played in the Caribbean from November 2-25. Several key players, including talismanic skipper Stafanie Taylor, ace spinner Anisa Mohammed, along with opener Hayley Matthews and wicketkeeper Merissa Aguilleira, will be together for six months in the build-up to the tournament. The official tournament matches will be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia and the National Stadium at Providence in Guyana. Under the captaincy of the dynamic Stafanie Taylor, the Windies won the last T20 World Cup in India two years ago, to lift their first major in-
ternational title. The triumph came on the same day the men’s team, under Sammy, won the corresponding title. ”We have a great team here preparing and I know they will do very well,” Browne said. “There’s a bit of time to go before the tournament, and it’s an example, forwardthinking idea from Cricket West Indies to get them into camp and get the preparation right. We want to peak at the right time and that time will be in November.” He continued: “On any given day, any team can win. We have to do the right things and prepare the team properly and thoroughly to ensure we get the right amount of work to improve our skill and our overall preparation. ”It is an important year for women’s cricket. We didn’t have a good year last year. We had a few good moments and a good series (at home against Sri Lanka).” Browne said women’s cricket was on a rapid rise globally and this year’s world event should
provide a true reflection of the quality of play. He added that the upcoming Cricket West Indies T20 Blaze and Super50 tournaments in Jamaica in June would give the Windies selectors a further gauge of regional talent. “This camp is critical. We want to start to look like the team that won last World T20,” Browne pointed out. ”We will be defending that title here in the Caribbean and our women will be quite familiar with the conditions. The things we all have to be mindful of is that women’s cricket across the world has really become consistent and we are seeing a much-improved brand of cricket, so we have to keep pace and remain among the top teams. ”The tournament in Jamaica is another key tournament. We are looking to draw from the regional tournament. We expect all players to showcase their talent and put themselves in line for selection for the second portion of the camp and the world tournament.”
Coach Roddy Estwick takes members of the Windies Women bowling attack through their paces in the nets. (Photo courtesy CWI Media)