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Solomon Mire, who broke the record for the highest individual score by a Zimbabwean in T20I cricket, said he wasn’t distracted by the prospect of reaching a century

Liam Brickhill in Harare04-Jul-2018Eleven years ago in Harare, Solomon Mire played his first professional cricket match. Just 17 years old and batting at no. 9 for Centrals in Zimbabwe’s domestic one-day cup, he cracked 94 from just 67 deliveries, hitting five sixes. The very next day, he was shifted up to no. 8 and made an unbeaten 79, this time with two sixes. Before the week was up, he added an unbeaten 52, this time from no. 7, and his reputation as a fearsome hitter started to precede him. Fast forward a decade, and Mire has transformed from a rangy teenager into one of the best strikers of a cricket ball in Zimbabwe.He’s moved all the way up to the top of the order now, and against Pakistan – the world’s top T20I side – he came within one stroke of becoming the first Zimbabwean to hit a T20I hundred, providing a neat little bit of symmetry by once again making 94 (but from 63 balls this time) in the city where he made his start as a pro. Not that that was playing on his mind – he didn’t even know about the feat he was so close to, and was thinking only of trying to keep pushing his team’s score up.”I actually didn’t know that stat until it got mentioned during the break,” Mire said. “At that point it was more about getting the runs. I didn’t really feel nervous at all being in the 90s because it wasn’t important for me today. It was more about trying to hit out at the end. I realised that I was seeing the ball a bit better than I had anticipated, and I knew I had to kick on. Today was about trying to utilise the good form I feel I have at the moment.”Mire has looked in the best touch of all Zimbabwe’s batsmen in this tri-series so far, despite the fact that he has played no serious cricket since the World Cup Qualifiers in March and wasn’t part of the warm-ups against Kenya. But after a couple of 20s in the first two matches, he took the attack to Pakistan today and put together Zimbabwe’s best start of the tournament with the recalled Cephas Zhuwao.”I try and complement Cephas a bit because he’s obviously an attacking guy and I just try to reinforce that he has to play his game,” Mire said. “For someone like him, it’s very small things like telling him to stay still and not move around too much. Because for a striker the worst thing you can do is move around. I’m just trying to help him clear his mind so he can hit the ball better. And if he’s going off I just try and give him as much of the strike as possible, because he can go much faster than I can. If it’s not working, then I take that role. But the most important is just trying to build a partnership.”Against Pakistan, Mire shared in partnerships of 49 with Zhuwao, 33 with Hamilton Masakadza (of which Mire scored 30) and 64 with young batsman Tarisai Musakanda, with whom Mire shares a special connection. “Tari and I go back a long way, so I’m happy to see him starting to find his feet,” he explained. “We’re both from Kadoma. I knew him as a young kid, and I also know his dad very well. I try and guide him as much as possible. He looks up to me as a bit of a big brother to him. I try to help him as much as possible on the field too. I’m sure he’s going to kick on from here.”Mire is, in many ways, the perfect role model for a young cricketer, particularly in a Zimbabwean context. He might have been building a reputation even as a teenager in this country, but he quickly realised the value of expanding his horizons. After a couple of years in domestic cricket, he emigrated to Australia and found a home playing for Essendon in the Victoria Cricket Association Premiership. His first grade ton came against St. Kilda, and in 2014 he made community paper headlines when he walloped 260, including 21 sixes, for Waratahs to set a new tournament record in the Darwin and District Cricket Competition.
“That was just one of those days where everything came out of the middle,” he remembers. “Every cricketer dreams of those days. You saw it with Finchy the other day. When it comes off, it’s really nice.”Grade success led to some games for Victoria Under-23s, and then a rookie contract with Melbourne Renegades, where he was captained by Aaron Finch (before he left for national duty) and played alongside the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Muttiah Muralitharan. His time in Australia has been vital to the player he has become today.”I had to develop certain skills [in Australia]. Just swinging at the ball wasn’t enough. I had to devise a gameplan and work around having a more stable technique. A more stable base to hit from. Also being able to rotate the strike, which is still an area of concern. I’m still working on it. But playing consistently in a competitive environment was the best thing. Having that week in week out, that competitive structure, really helped my cricket. I’ve been in a few academies as well, and I’ve worked with some great coaches. But the continuous improvement [in Australia] was the biggest [factor].”Continuous improvement is a mantra that would serve Zimbabwe well, and Mire insisted that their remaining games in the tri-series – as well as the ODIs which will follow – are an opportunity for his team to get better even if they’re not winning. “It’s an opportunity for the team to keep improving,” he said. “There are also a couple of guys there still looking at this as an opportunity to make a name for themselves and cement their position in the squad. For us, it’s also about confidence building because there’s also a one-day series after this.”You have to be careful making promises, but I’ll try and be as consistent as possible with my game. If I’m seeing the ball well and timing it well, I’ll definitely keep playing my shots.”

England’s coach has hinted the team might ‘have a decision to make’ over Jonny Bairstow’s role in the side after he fractured a finger at Trent Bridge

Alan Gardner23-Aug-2018Trevor Bayliss has hinted England may “have a decision to make” over Jonny Bairstow’s future as Test wicketkeeper. Bairstow fractured a finger while taking a catch behind the stumps at Trent Bridge and is a doubt for the fourth Test, starting next week; if passed fit, he is likely to play as a specialist batsman only.Bairstow’s injury enabled Jos Buttler – England’s regular limited-overs keeper – to retake the gloves for the first time in Tests since 2015. Buttler subsequently scored his maiden Test hundred, and he seems set to have a chance to stake a permanent claim for the wicketkeeper’s role, a change that could allow Bairstow to fill one of England’s problem batting positions higher up the order.Bairstow has long been adamant that he wants to continue keeping wicket, and has made significant improvements since first stepping in as Matt Prior’s replacement on the 2013-14 Ashes tour. However, Bayliss, England’s coach, suggested that while “convincing Jonny” of the merits of a switch might prove difficult, it was in Buttler’s hands to make the most of the opportunity.”I think keeping in the next game will probably be the most difficult [for Bairstow],” he said. “We’ve got to check with the medical guys in the next few days. They are suggesting he may not be able to keep but might be able to bat. We’ll have to see how it responds. If that gives someone else another opportunity – it’s like any injury, if someone comes in and does well, then you have a decision to make.”That’ll be the hard thing, trying to convince Jonny. That will be a decision that is taken from the team point of view. He is a world-class batter, we know that, one of the difficult things might be convincing Jonny of that. I think he has improved his keeping over the last couple of years from where he was say when we were in South Africa. He’s aware of that. He’s done some hard work. Jos will have to do some hard work as well. He’s been keeping a lot in one-day cricket but keeping 100 overs-a-day can be difficult, day after day, Test after Test. There are other options out there as well.”While Bairstow has made a strong case as a wicketkeeper-batsman – he averages 42.33 with the gloves as opposed to 38.55 overall – there remains a school of thought that he could be even more productive. Freed from keeping, Bairstow could potentially bat as high as No. 4, a position which has been problematic since Joe Root moved up to bat at No. 3. Perhaps significantly, Bairstow has averaged more than 50 in the ODI side over the last year, playing solely as a batsman – and Bayliss said he was not worried that a change in roles would affect his output in Tests.”If that was the way we went, it would certainly be a deep conversation,” Bayliss said. “Jonny’s a reasonable bloke. If that’s the way we wanted to go… in the long run, he wants to play Test cricket. We know he wants to keep but there would be a lot of explaining and chatting.”Should Bairstow be able to play as a batsman in the Southampton Test, there may be another benefit in allowing Ollie Pope to shift down the order. Pope, 20, made his debut in the second Test and has so far made 54 runs in three innings batting at No. 4 – despite having no previous experience in that position in a career spanning 15 first-class matches.”He’s batted no higher than six for Surrey so it was a big ask to come into international cricket and bat four but the short times he’s been at the crease showed that he might be a good international cricketer,” Bayliss said. “We would have probably liked to have started him off down a bit lower but the hole was at No. 4. Obviously, Jonny is an option there as well which might allow Ollie to drop a little lower. These are all things we’ve discussed.”Pressure has also been building on Alastair Cook, with England’s leading Test run-scorer having not gone past 29 in five innings against India. Root indicated after the defeat at Trent Bridge that Cook retained his full backing, and Bayliss suggested that he was not so much out of form as “out of runs”.”Cooky has not changed his demeanour. You wouldn’t know there was any difference between now and when he is scoring plenty of runs. He still practises as hard, if not harder, than anyone else. You watch him play in the nets and he is actually striking the ball quite nicely. His feet move well. I wouldn’t say he is out of form – he is still hitting the ball well – he is out of runs in the middle. But he is giving himself every opportunity. He practises hard and he still plays an active role in his position in the team.”

Dropped catches proved expensive for Durham after the visitors chose to bowl first on day one of their Specsavers County Championship match against Leicestershire

ECB Reporters Network18-Sep-2018
ScorecardDropped catches proved expensive for Durham after the visitors chose to bowl first on day one of their Specsavers County Championship match against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.Paul Collingwood, captaining Durham for the last time away from their Chester-le-Street home, put down both Harry Dearden and Neil Dexter, both times at first slip, though Dexter should already have been dismissed first ball, Michael Richardson shelling a relatively straightforward chance at third slip.Had Richardson held the chance, off Matt Salisbury, Leicestershire would have been 139 for 5 and struggling. As it was Dexter and Dearden went on to compile a partnership of 77 for the fifth wicket in just 17 overs before Leicestershire’s lower order and tail took their score past 300.In the absence of captain Paul Horton, unavailable due to personal reasons, Ateeq Javid was promoted to open. He and academy graduate Sam Evans put together a partnership of 31 for Leicestershire’s first wicket before Evans was leg before to a delivery from Chris Rushworth which seamed back in to the young right-hander.With the bowlers struggling to cope with the strong southerly wind, Colin Ackermann hit Barry McCarthy for successive boundaries before the Ireland international had his revenge with a delivery that moved away just enough to find the edge.Javid was dismissed shortly after reaching his half-century, his highest score for Leicestershire, leg before to a Rushworth delivery which seamed back, and though Mark Cosgrove showed signs of finding some sort of form in going to 37, he was also beaten on numerous occasions, particularly by Rushworth, before being bowled pushing across the line at a delivery from Salisbury.Dexter’s good fortune enable he and Dearden to repair the innings before Dexter eventually went leg before on the front foot to Gareth Harte with the score on 216 shortly before tea, and when Dearden edged a loose drive at Mark Wood without further addition to the score, Durham might have hoped to have their opponents all out for around 260.But Lewis Hill, in company with Ben Mike, Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths, guided Leicestershire to a third batting bonus point.

Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out of the remaining limited-overs games on England’s tour of Sri Lanka and could be in doubt for the Test series

George Dobell in Colombo21-Oct-2018Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out of the remaining limited-overs games on England’s tour of Sri Lanka and could be in doubt for the Test series.Bairstow missed Saturday’s ODI after injuring his right ankle ligaments playing football during the warm-up to training on Friday. Alex Hales, who is vying with Bairstow for one of the opener’s spots, took his place in the England side that won the fourth ODI.The England management have now announced that Bairstow will not be available for the final ODI – in Colombo on Tuesday – or the one-off T20 that follows it on Saturday.”He will be monitored and assessed on a daily basis by the England medical team in Sri Lanka and a further update will be given in due course on his fitness ahead of the three-match Test series starting next month,” the ECB said in a statement.While there are several wicketkeeping options within England’s Test squad – not least Jos Buttler, who kept in the Ageas Bowl Test against India after Bairstow sustained a finger injury, Rory Burns and Ollie Pope, who kept for England Lions during the English domestic season – any concerns over Bairstow’s ability to keep could result in a call-up for Surrey’s Ben Foakes, who is regarded by many as the best keeper in England.The manner of Bairstow’s injury is sure to renew debate over the wisdom of playing football as a warm-up activity. While it is hugely popular among the players, there have been some notable injuries caused by it over the years; albeit not many of them in recent times. Ashley Giles, who is among the favourites to succeed Andrew Strauss as England’s managing director, has gone on the record in the past expressing his reservations about cricketers playing football in training.The first Test starts in Galle on November 6, with England playing two two-day warm-up games beforehand.

Captain takes pride in leading from the front as England seal first series win in Asia for six years

Andrew Miller18-Nov-2018Having challenged his players to play “bold, courageous cricket” on their tour of Sri Lanka, England’s captain Joe Root said that he would take immense pride in the manner in which his players backed up their words with deeds to secure their first series win in Asia for six years.Root himself was named Man of the Match for his superb second-innings 124, a performance that epitomised his team’s positive approach to batting in challenging conditions, and he admitted that it was especially pleasing to have been able to lead from the front in precisely the manner that he had called for.”I’m really pleased to back up everything I’ve spoken about and the way that I did it,” Root told Sky Sports. “It’s nice to make a big contribution but the thing that sits well with me is the manner in which I did it. I asked the guys to play a certain way, and I went out and backed it up myself.”However, Root was quick to praise his entire squad for the manner in which they bought into the challenge of taking on Sri Lanka in their own conditions – not just the 11 players who have so far taken the field in the two Tests, but the full 17-man squad, not least the likes of Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow, two hugely experienced players who have been surplus to requirements given the specific balance of this team.”Look at the guys we’ve got on the sidelines,” he said. “We’ve got some very exciting young players and a lot of experience, and for Stuart Broad [and Bairstow] to have no played a part in this series shows the strength of the squad, and the adaptability as well. Around the world we could have played a very different side with a similar well-balanced look to it.”It’s nice to be in a position where all 17 guys could walk into the team and it wouldn’t look any less balanced, or out of place in these conditions.”If England’s set-up allowed them to do without some of their most senior campaigners out in the middle, then Root was quick to praise the contributions of two of his most trusted lieutenants, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes. Both are integral members of England’s world-class white-ball squad, and after a match in which England’s fielding standards, particularly the close catching, had made the difference between the two teams, Root insisted that their contributions had been instrumental in raising the overall standards of the squad.”The guys have worked really hard on their close catching, we know how important it is in this part of the world,” said Root. “When you’ve got Jos and Ben in the outfield, the standard does rise, it drags people with them.”They are the sort of characters we have, two senior players who command respect in the way they go about things. Not verbally, but with their actions on the field and the way they train. They set the standard, and when people see that and the success they have on the field, they are very quick to follow suit.”Getty Images

The final morning of the match had dawned with England needing a further three wickets, and Sri Lanka 75 runs, but Root insisted that he and his players had been pretty calm when play resumed, thanks to a belief in the plans that had already carried them to the brink of victory.”We were pretty confident,” he said. “We knew we’d be able to create three chances on that surface, but we also recognised that when partnerships developed it became quite difficult. We tried to stay as calm as possible, trust all the plans we had, and follow through on that, and thankfully it paid off.”That’s not to say there had not been one or two nervous moments in the field as Sri Lanka set off in pursuit of a victory target of 300, and Root conceded that the extended sessions on day four had not helped his team, in the wake of the heavy rainfall that interrupted their own second innings.”The extra 15 minutes in both sessions didn’t help,” he said. “[Sri Lanka’s] two significant partnerships were towards the back of those sessions and they got away from us a little bit. It’s a nice learner for me as captain to do things differently, but ultimately we reassessed things very well and very quickly and put things right.”The credit for the victory ultimately went to England’s trio of spinners who claimed 19 of Sri Lanka’s 20 wickets in the match, with Jack Leach and Moeen Ali sharing nine out of ten in the second innings,”They dealt with the pressure pretty well, and to do it in these conditions as well,” said Root. “To do it in England on pitches you’re familiar with is one thing, but we have guys like Mo who are very good at beating the bat on both sides when there’s more consistent spin. It’s about finding different ways of getting the most out of your skill and expand your game.”You’ve seen a big improvement and development in all three of them to harness and shoulder that pressure. It was really pleasing.”Root’s captaincy also encountered a steep learning curve out in the field, part of which revolved around him unlearning some of the lessons that became apparent to him while batting.AFP

“It’s difficult, you see the ball spin when you’re batting and it’s really hard work,” he said. “There is that expectation on yourselves at times to go and take clusters of wickets and put them under huge amounts of pressure. But if you over-attack, it can be difficult, you can leak runs, and then the pressure is back on yourselves.”More than anything, you have to get that balance of attack and defence, defend with the field but attack with the ball in hand, that is sometimes a bit more useful.”Root also praised his team’s batting, not merely for producing three centuries in the two Tests to Sri Lanka’s none, but for the intent and the depth that they were able to dredge out of the entire line-up – right down to the contributions of James Anderson at No.11, who helped add 101 runs for the last wicket across two innings.”We’ve made some really crucial partnerships at key times,” he said. “Going back to the start of the second innings, going back to Keaton [Jennings] and Rory [Burns], they kept the scoreboard moving very quickly, and kept them under pressure from the start, and in a calm and controlled manner. That set the innings up beautifully and gave the guys a huge amount of confidence to play their own way and keep the runs coming.”The beauty of this team is the depth of batting,” he added. “Guys like Rashid coming in at No.10 at times, he’s more than capable of big scores in Test cricket, and has more than 10 first-class hundreds. It’s nice to know that the depth is there, but one thing we’ve seen is there is no attitude of ‘leave it to someone else’. The guys have stood up and shouldered that responsibility really well.”Ben Foakes, England’s rookie wicketkeeper, was also singled out for special praise after another match in which his impeccable glovework was matched by a vital performance with the bat.”Foakes has made it look a lot easier than it should look, both keepers have,” said Root. “Both stood back and up, with the ball not carrying at times. It’s been spitting, keeping low, but he’s done phenomenally well, and makes it look a lot easier than it is which is fantastic to have as a wicketkeeper.”His runs have been fantastic as well. His demeanour out in the middle is one of someone who has played a lot more than he has. He has a great attitude towards learning and improving himself.”

Debutant wicketkeeper Ben Foakes finished the day on 87 not out as England rallied from 103 for 5 through a series of lower-order stands

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle06-Nov-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBen Foakes was largely in the team for his wicketkeeping. That, at least, was one of the arguments. But following a morning session in which England’s more highly rated batsmen tangled themselves up in aggressive strokes and left the side at 103 for 5, it was debutant Foakes whose steady hand raised them gradually out of the ditch they had been in at lunch.Foakes used the crease, skipped out to meet the spinners, and he swept as well, but he did each of these in a much more measured fashion than the men who batted above him. Thanks to him, and the men who batted well in his company – Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Adil Rashid – England can even claim to have grasped a position of strength in this match. A score of 321 for 8 at stumps on day one is not shabby, in a Galle Test. Foakes himself was not out, 13 runs short of what would be a plucky century in his first Test innings.Importantly, England also prevented Rangana Herath from imposing himself in the first innings of his final Test, and were also severe on the undisciplined Akila Dananjaya. Sri Lanka’s best bowler, by a distance, was offspinner Dilruwan Perera. Dogged and indomitable, he took 4 for 70 for the day, and in general looked like the kind of bowler who would do a manful job of leading the spin attack in the post-Herath era. Sri Lanka will worry, though, about the figures of Dananjaya in particular. He had had a catch dropped off him in the first session of the day, but went at 4.8 an over, finishing with figures of 1 for 96. In the second Test of this series and onward, he will be expected to bear a greater share of the bowling burden.Foakes added stands of 61, 88 and 54 with Buttler, Curran and Rashid respectively, but before he did much serious run-scoring himself, he had set himself up for a long innings the old-fashioned way: by batting watchfully in his first half-hour at the crease. Where the top-order men had been desperate to get on top of the spinners early, sweeping with abandon, and practically sprinting out of the crease, Foakes made sure his defence was in order first – it wasn’t until his 44th delivery that he ventured his first boundary. Just as a comparison, Joe Root had earlier struck five fours off his first 21 balls, before eventually running past a Herath delivery to give the spinner his 100th wicket at this venue.Buttler too seemed to think that more sedate progress was preferable to the adrenaline-fuelled efforts of the first session, and knuckled down to the business of working the ball into the gaps, like Foakes. It helped that the pitch, which had spent most of the previous two days under covers, seemed to have settled a bit after lunch. Buttler struck four fours in his 72-ball 38, before being undone by a canny change-up by Dilruwan, who rapped Buttler on the pad to raise a big lbw shout halfway through the afternoon session, before slipping in a skidding arm ball to take Buttler’s outside edge next delivery.Ben Foakes drives down the ground•Getty Images

The fact that Foakes was batting sagely and safely, though, seemed to instill a little calm in Curran as well. He too followed Foakes’ lead in playing himself gradually in. Curran did venture occasional big hits – particularly off Dananjaya, whom he enjoyed thumping down the ground. In between, he worked plenty of singles into the now wide-open outfield, though his defence was never quite as secure as that of Foakes. Eventually, one of his attempted wallops off Dananjaya brought his downfall, the outside edge flying to Dinesh Chandimal at slip. He was out for 46.Late in the day, Rashid thumped a few boundaries, racing to 35 off 38 balls, before himself being caught at slip, giving Dilruwan his fourth wicket. Rashid’s aggression did not inspire the same in Foakes, who could not be shaken out of his measured approach, even in the company of tailender Jack Leach, who batted through to the close.Sri Lanka have more things to worry about than just the total England might eventually end up on. First, their fielding was poor – Keaton Jennings dropped by Angelo Mathews at slip on 26, and Foakes reprieved by Kusal Mendis at short leg on 60, though perhaps the second of those was only a half chance. There is also an injury doubt over captain Dinesh Chandimal, who twinged a ligament in the groin as he ran after a ball in the second session. Though he eventually returned to the field, he was in substantial discomfort, and could not run at anywhere near full pelt. He will have scans after play, and it seems possible that the injury could prompt a change in the batting order.

Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby starred in Kerala’s win against Himachal, while Punjab and Bengal returned home with an honourable – but inconsequential – draw

Saurabh Somani10-Jan-2019Kerala’s dash to the finish lineA stirring fourth-innings chase by Kerala handed them a victory against Himachal Pradesh and six points, vaulting the team into the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 quarter-finals. Kerala will join Vidarbha, Saurashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the quarter-finals.

Ranji Trophy 2018-19 quarter-finals:

(to be played from January 15 to 19)
QF1: Vidharbha (1st in A and B) vs Uttarakhand (1st in Group D) in Vidarbha
QF2: Saurashtra (2nd in A and B) vs Uttar Pradesh (2nd in Group C) in Uttar Pradesh
QF3: Karnataka (3rd in A and B) vs Rajasthan (1st in Group C) in Karnataka
QF4: Kerala (4th in A and B) vs Gujarat (5th in A and B) in Kerala

The identity of the teams that eventually qualified depended largely on two games on the final day of the league phase: Kerala’s match against Himachal, and Punjab’s game against Bengal.Himachal declared on their overnight 285 for 8, setting Kerala a target of 297 at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Nadaun. Kerala responded brilliantly, getting to 299 for 5 in 67 overs. Vinoop Manoharan, who was promoted to open the innings, hit 96 off 143 to set the chase on track. There was a brief wobble when Manoharan and Mohammed Azharuddeen fell in quick succession, but an 88-run stand for the fifth wicket off 104 balls between captain Sachin Baby (92 off 134) and Sanju Samson (61* off 53) put Kerala on the brink of victory. Himachal had declared, having scored rapidly in their second innings, because they too were chasing victory to progress to the knockouts.However, Kerala won the race, and now have 26 points to show, level with Gujarat and Baroda, but ahead on quotient. Gujarat edged out Baroda in turn due to a higher quotient, and thus booked their place in the knockouts.Shahbaz Nadeem took three of Gujarat’s four wickets•Sunny Shinde

An inconsequential drawEither of Bengal or Punjab could have upset the equations if their match had ended in an outright result, but despite a valiant chase by Punjab, it produced a draw. Punjab had taken a stranglehold early in the match, replying to Bengal’s 187 with 447. Bengal, however, showed plenty of spunk in their 432 for 6 declared in the second innings. Abhimanyu Easwaran ended a superb season with 201 not-out, his first double-hundred, while captain Manoj Tiwary made 105 as Bengal ensured they would stave off defeat. Tiwary then gave Punjab 16 overs to chase 173. In a surprise move, fast bowler Manpreet Gony was promoted to No. 3 and he smashed 58 off 28, but with Punjab 132 for 5 in 15 overs, the teams shook hands. It was Gony’s second half-century in the match, following a career-best 69 not-out in the first innings.While Bengal did emerge with an honourable draw, what both teams needed was an outright win – and denied that, neither could finish in the top five of the combined A and B groups to qualify for the knockouts.Manoj Tiwary gazes into the distance•PTI

The Jharkhand heartbreak
Despite the entire first day being washed out at the Gandhi Memorial Science College Ground in Jammu, Jharkhand beat Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by an innings and 48 runs. Saurabh Tiwary’s 134 led their batting effort, while Shahbaz Nadeem starred with the ball once again, taking 4 for 43 as J&K were bowled out for 120 on the final day. The win took Jharkhand to 40 points, just behind Uttar Pradesh, who went through with 41 points.Jharkhand were badly hit by the previous round, when Tripura’s dawdle meant only 22 overs were bowled in an extended final session, stopping Jharkhand at 144 for 7 when set 153 to win. That left Jharkhand with only three points for a first-innings lead, when a win would have given them six points.Punjab, too, will look back on this season as one of near-misses. In their first match, they replied to Andhra’s 423 with 414, missing out on a first-innings lead by just ten runs. Later on, Hyderabad made 317, and Punjab were bowled out for 303 in reply. They still had perhaps the most exciting chase of the season, finishing on 324 for 8 when set 338 to win, led by an inspired century from Shubman Gill. Then came another near-miss in the final league game. They were similarly affected in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in September-October 2018, having to share points with Goa after piling on 359 for 4 and reducing Goa to 46 for 2 in ten overs before rain arrived, a result that materially affected their chances of making the quarter-finals.

Brief Scores

Groups A & B
Saurashtra 356 (Harvik Desai 74, Sheldon Jackson 65, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 72, Suniket Bingewar 3-68, Yash Thakur 4-92) & 218/2d (Vishvaraj Jadeja 105*, Sheldon Jackson 53*) drew with Vidarbha 280/9d (Wasim Jaffer 98, Mohit Kale 66, Jaydev Unadkat 6-56) in Rajkot.