Tag Futebol

Baroda captain Deepak Hooda’s 34-ball 57 helped his team chase down a target of 179 against Maharashtra while Aditya Garhwal’s 51* set up Rajasthan’s six-wicket win over Vidarbha

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2018Baroda captain Deepak Hooda’s 34-ball 57 helped his team chase down a target of 179 with five wickets in hand against Maharashtra in Rajkot. Hooda’s second half-century in the tournament was instrumental in Baroda winning their fourth consecutive game and remain undefeated in the competition.Earlier, Maharashtra put up a strong batting performance after electing to bat first. A 79-run alliance between Ruturaj Gaikwad, who smashed a 37-ball 52, and captain Rahul Tripathi (30 off 24 balls) propelled Maharashtra to a total of 178 for 6 in 20 overs. Baroda seamer Atit Sheth finished with figures of 3 for 21. In reply, Baroda recovered quickly from the loss of three early wickets thanks to Hooda and handy contributions from Vishnu Solanki (42* off 21) and Swapnil Singh, who retired hurt after a 26-ball 36. Seamer Domnic Muthuswami picked up three wickets for Maharashtra.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A disciplined bowling effort followed by Aditya Garhwal’s unbeaten half-century set up Rajasthan‘s six-wicket win over Vidarbha in Raipur. This was their fourth win in as many games even as Vidarbha lost their first game of the tournament.After opting to bat, Vidarbha started reasonably well but lost their way in the middle to slump from 70 for 2 to 127 for 7 before their innings eventually petered out to 131 for 8. Rajasthan seamers Aniket Choudhary, Deepak Chahar (2 for 25) and Khaleel Ahmed (2 for 19) picked up five wickets among them. Rajasthan’s chase was fairly straightforward as they cruised to their target with two overs to spare.

Group A round-up: Uttar Pradesh’s spinners impress, Baroda’s batting fails yet again and Bengal make slow progress

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2016Uttar Pradesh‘s left-arm spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Saurabh Kumar took seven wickets between them as Mumbai were bowled out for 233 on the first day in Mysore.Mumbai lost three wickets for 55 in the first session, including that of Shreyas Iyer for 35, after electing to bat. Suryakumar Yadav held the innings together; he put on consecutive fifty partnerships with captain Aditya Tare (30) and Siddesh Lad (13), followed by another with debutant Aditya Dhumal (34) for the seventh wicket.He was eventually removed for 99, one short of a second-consecutive century, trapped in front to the part-time offspin of Shivam Chaudhary with the score on 223. Saurabh and Kuldeep then cleaned up the tail to finish with three and four wickets, respectively. Medium-pacer Tushar Deshpande took the solitary UP wicket to fall, that of Tanmay Srivastava, as UP finished the day on 22 for 1.Baroda failed to cross 200 for their third innings in a row, as left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav’s first five-wicket haul – on his return to first-class cricket – helped Railways bowl them out for 183 in Nagpur.Baroda’s top-order batsmen all got off to starts. Opener Kedar Devdhar scored 45, Dhiren Mistry scored 50 at No. 3 and Deepak Hooda got 30 at No. 4. They were decently placed at 137 for 2 when Hooda was stumped off Avinash. This triggered a collapse that eventually read 8 for 46, as Baroda folded up for 183. Avinash took five of those wickets, and legspinner Karn Sharma (3-37) took the last two. In response, Railways openers Saurabh Wakaskar (16*) and Shivakant Shukla (23*) took them to 39 for 0 at stumps.Priyank Panchal’s tenth first-class fifty helped Gujarat finish the first day on 224 for 4 against Madhya Pradesh in Nagothane. Panchal put on 75 for the opening wicket with Samit Gohel (34) and 42 for the third with Parthiv Patel, before getting stumped off left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma (2-60) for 62. Parthiv then stitched together 68 with Manpreet Juneja (44*) before falling for 49. Juneja and Chirag Gandhi (9*) batted out the last 11.4 overs to add 17, and take Gujarat to stumps without further damage.Bengal scored at just above two runs per over to reach 190 for 3 at stumps, against Tamil Nadu in Rajkot. Bengal’s 190 was anchored by a 111-run partnership for the third wicket, that began with Sudip Chatterjee (34) and Manoj Tiwary before Chatterjee had to go off retired hurt. Agniv Pan was Tiwary’s other partner during the third-wicket stand, which ended with Tiwary’s dismissal on 56. Pan was unbeaten on 51 at the end of the day, his third first-class fifty in four games, and Shreevats Goswami was with him on 15.

Afghanistan sealed another historic first with a 2-0 Twenty20 series victory over Zimbabwe in the second match at Queens Sports Club

The Report by Liam Brickhill28-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Usman Ghani struck three sixes in his 45-ball 65•AFP

Afghanistan sealed another historic first with a 2-0 Twenty20 series victory over Zimbabwe in the second match at Queens Sports Club. Opener Usman Ghani and allrounder Gulbadin Naib led Afghanistan’s charge as they hunted down Zimbabwe’s 190 for 7 with one ball to spare. Ghani weathered a fierce short-ball assault from Zimbabwe’s quicks to rush to his first T20 fifty, and after he departed, Naib picked up where he left off, marshaling the second half of the chase and registering a maiden fifty of his own. Their efforts meant that Sean Williams’ quickfire 54, which equalled the Zimbabwean record for the fastest T20 fifty, went in vain.Afghanistan needed a good start to their chase, and it seemed that Mohammad Shahzad would lead it when he rushed out at the very first delivery to slash it over cover point for four. Yet it was the 18-year-old Ghani who did most of the scoring as they rushed to 56 at the end of the Powerplay. All three of Zimbabwe’s seamers targeted him repeatedly with the short ball, and though Ghani was made to look uncomfortable he also frequently managed to find the boundary.He collected three boundaries in Neville Madziva’s first over, all of them off the back foot and one thanks to a top-edged hook that flew high over wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami’s head. Another top-edged bouncer in Madziva’s next over brought four more, and Chris Mpofu’s change of ends was greeted with a straight six down the ground before the bowler responded with a barrage of bouncers, one of which almost knocked the young batsman off his feet.Ghani rushed into the 40s with another six down the ground, this time off left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza, and when he brought up his fifty – from 32 balls in the eighth over – Shahzad had only just reached 20. Ghani added a third six, off Chamu Chibhabha, but the medium-pacer then nipped out two wickets in two balls to bring Zimbabwe back into the game. It took a tumbling catch at long-off by Madziva to remove Ghani and, with the batsmen having crossed, Chibhabha then deceived Shahzad with a slower ball to trap him lbw for a relatively sedate 24.That reduced Afghanistan to 95 for 2 at the end of the 11th over, with the required rate already above ten, and Zimbabwe increased their advantage further when Mpofu’s bullet throw from the deep had Mohammad Nabi run-out for 15. With 58 needed from 30 deliveries, Naib, who had been offered a promotion to No. 3, came to the fore.His strokeplay had more to do with skill and timing than brute force, and he moved into the 30s with a front-foot pull and a delightful paddle-scoop off Madziva, both of which brought fours. Naib added three more of those in one over from Mpofu, again using the scoop shot to great effect, to take the equation down to 23 from the last two overs. Muzarabani’s quick reactions had Karim Sadiq run-out off the final delivery of the penultimate over and Afghanistan needed nine from the last six deliveries, to be bowled by Mpofu.Shafiqullah struck the decisive blow on his third delivery, sweeping past short fine leg, before he handed the strike over to Naib, who duly chipped the winning runs down the ground with one ball to spare.Their efforts put Williams’ innings in the shade, though the knock will be remembered for equalling the record set by Elton Chigumbura in the 2014 World T20. Williams faced the third delivery of Zimbabwe’s innings after Chibhabha was cleaned bowled by Dawlat Zadran, and after playing out a wicket maiden he launched an eye-catching counterattack.Williams was particularly unforgiving on Afghanistan’s spinners, taking 19 runs off Rashid Khan’s first over in an assault that included two reverse sweeps and a slog sweep that put the ball into the trees beyond deep midwicket. Karim Sadiq’s offspin was treated with equal disdain, Williams clobbering two fours and a six in his first over, and Williams reached his fifty from 21 deliveries in the seventh over.Mutumbami kept Zimbabwe cruising with a succession of slog sweeps, even as Chigumbura’s innings started modestly from the other end. But there was no definitive finish from Zimbabwe, with Afghanistan picking up regular wickets at the death, and yet again Zimbabwe’s runs were not enough to defend.

Alastair Cook may sleep slightly uncomfortably in Auckland after sticking New Zealand in and seeing them finish on 250 for 1

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland22-Mar-2013Nasser Hussain has never quite lived down putting the Australians in to bat at the Gabba in 2002 and seeing them end the first day on 364 for 2. Alastair Cook may sleep slightly uncomfortably in Auckland after sticking New Zealand in and seeing them finish on 250 for 1.However, bowling first is becoming the norm in New Zealand; this is the seventh time in a row the team winning the toss has put the opposition in. Brendon McCullum has insisted whatever life is on offer will be there early and Cook followed that belief at Eden Park, but there was no more movement or playing-and-missing than any average Test-match opening day.It is often said not to judge a toss decision after the first session, so when New Zealand lunched on 79 for 1 the next two sessions were awaited. Five down would have been passable. One down is close to putting the series out of reach although England, as they have to, retained belief that the situation could quickly change. They can look to the previous Test where New Zealand took 8 for 198 on the second day after just two wickets on the first.”I don’t think it’s a disastrous day of Test cricket for us,” Steven Finn said. “Yes, obviously we’d have liked to take more than one wicket. But they’ve only got 250 runs on the board, and a crazy session – like we’ve had before – can turn the game on its head.”Finn was pointing out the run-rate was kept under three-an-over, but if that is now classed as a success by England it shows how their expectations in this series have changed. The bowling, to be fair, was not awful and a few of the edges through the slips to the short third-man boundaries could have gone to hand. But it never felt as though England were on the verge of creating sizable inroads into New Zealand’s top order.Barring the first innings in Wellington it has not felt that way at any point in the series, and even that innings took a lot of hard work. Throughout the matches, batsmen willing to get their heads down and cut out risks – as Peter Fulton and Kane Williamson did superbly – have been difficult to shift.England will have come into this series wanting to use the height advantage of their quicks to test the techniques of the New Zealand batsmen who were exposed against South Africa’s pace. However, England’s bowlers have not been consistently as threatening as South Africa’s on recent form and the pitches have negated their plans.The lush outfield at Eden Park, which is no mean feat given that rugby was played on it last weekend and that the country is in drought, also hindered England’s attempts to get the ball to reverse – a tactic they have used with great success in the subcontinent and Australia when traditional methods have been unavailable. The only spell of reverse in the series for England came from James Anderson on the third day in Wellington.Finn, though, despite being a modern sportsman and ‘picking out the positives’ from a tough day, did make a valid point about not allowing the scoreboard to race away. That could easily have happened on this ground and looked as though it may occur when Fulton latched onto Monty Panesar during the afternoon session.”At no stage today did we get despondent. To keep them at three-an-over and not too far out of our sights is good,” Finn said. “It’s important we try to wrestle the momentum from New Zealand – because after a day like that, they do have it.”One more day like this for the home side and it will be very difficult for England to win the series.

Carlton Baugh, the West Indies wicketkeeper, will lead the WICB President’s XI side against Australia in a three-day match starting on Monday, April 2

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Mar-2012Carlton Baugh, the West Indies wicketkeeper, will lead the WICB President’s XI side against Australia in a three-day match starting on Monday, April 2. The 12-member squad includes six players who have played Test cricket.Fidel Edwards, who is back in the West Indies after playing Twenty20 cricket in South Africa, has been included in the team. Edwards spearheaded the pace attack with Ravi Rampaul in West Indies’ last Test series in India. Kieran Powell is another player who played in the Tests in India and gets a chance to play the Australians before the Test series. A surprise inclusion to the squad is opening batsman Devon Smith, who has had a string of low scores in the Regional Four-Day Competition. Smith lost his central contract last year.Spinners have enjoyed considerable success in the West Indies this season and offspinner Ryan Austin, who is joint-top of the wicket-takers’ list in this season’s four-day competition, gets a chance to impress the selectors. Sunil Narine consistently troubled the Australians in the limited-over matches. However, Narine, who doesn’t have a central contract, is yet to confirm his availability for the Test series.The match will be played at 3Ws Oval in Bridgetown and is the only tour game before the start of the three match Test series, which starts on April 7 at the Kensington Oval.WICB President’s XI squad: Carlton Baugh (captain), Ryan Austin, Nkrumah Bonner, Johnson Charles, Kyle Corbin, Fidel Edwards, Jason Holder, Delorn Johnson, Nelon Pascal, Kieran Powell, Devon Smith, Devon ThomasEdited by Devashish Fuloria

New Zealand have stayed under the radar in their ride to the semi-finals, and Ross Taylor has now set his sights on making the final

Sidharth Monga in Colombo27-Mar-2011South Africa didn’t play a bunch of dummies who had to just turn up in Dhaka and watch Graeme Smith’s men crumble from a vantage point.One of the undesirable fallouts of South Africa’s exit from the World Cup, depressing as it was to their fans, is the focus on South Africa’s choke. The talk all around the cricketing world has been how South Africa lived up to their record of not having won a single knockout game in World Cups, of their mental brittleness in big events, of what future holds for them, and the other team that won the match has been all but forgotten.New Zealand played a game too, you know. Jesse Ryder showed a glimpse of how good a batsman he is before a charged-up New Zealand side, yelling, hollering, sledging, intimidating, pulled off the best fielding performance of the World Cup. They were a team possessed. They didn’t want to go home, they wanted to settle a score with a ground that consigned them to their lowest low. They were not a bunch of dummies.Quietly they have slipped into Sri Lanka, “warmer than Dhaka, not as hot as Mumbai”, facing a far tougher task than the one they accomplished in Dhaka, that of beating a team much more naturally talented, much more varied, playing in home conditions, used to conditions warmer than Dhaka but not as hot as Mumbai.And it’s staying under the radar that they are hanging on to. “Most of the time New Zealand play we are underdogs,” Ross Taylor, who has captained New Zealand in some of the games this World Cup, said two days before their sixth semi-final in 10 World Cups. “It’s something we almost enjoy, and we expect when we play. I know a lot of teams expect to beat us, and we enjoy the underdog tag, and we expect to beat them as well.Ross Taylor: “We genuinely believe we can go one step further and make the final”•Getty Images

“I don’t think too many other people gave us a chance, which probably made other teams take us a bit lighter than they normally would, which played into our hands, but you know it’s going to be a tough game on Tuesday, one that we are looking forward to.”New Zealand have played Sri Lanka before in this tournament, and the result was not too encouraging, a defeat by 112 runs at a ground these teams will be fighting for the right to play at. Taylor sees having played Sri Lanka as an advantage, as an opportunity to have made the mistakes in a game not so big. “It’s a new game,” he said. “We are taking a lot of confidence from our last game against South Africa. We have got an advantage that we have played against Sri Lanka in the pool matches, and we did a few things wrong. Hopefully we can rectify that in the match on Tuesday.”New Zealand, in a way a team not too dissimilar to England who were demolished by Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, seek to learn from the way England played. “Watching parts of the game and analysing the way England played and where they went wrong and where Sri Lanka went wrong, but we have got a lot of momentum in our camp. We were happy with the way we fielded, and hopefully we can continue with that and put Sri Lanka under pressure.”Taylor said the side was desperate to translate the record of having made six semi-finals into something more significant. “We are proud of our history of making semi-finals, but looking at this team we want to make history and go one step further and make the final,” he said. “We genuinely believe we can do that, and we want to show that on Tuesday.”

Sachin Tendulkar shored up Mumbai Indians yet again, steering them into the semi-final with his fifth half-century of the IPL that took him to the top of the run-charts in the tournament

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Talya11-Apr-2010Mumbai Indians 174 for 5 (Tendulkar 89*, Watson 3-37) beat Rajasthan Royals 137 for 8 (Dole 30, Zaheer 2-17) by 37 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 89 was the defining feature of Mumbai’s comprehensive win•Indian Premier League

Sachin Tendulkar shored up Mumbai Indians yet again with his fifth half-century of the IPL that all but guaranteed them a place in the semi-final and took him to the top of the run-charts in the tournament. He overcame Rajasthan Royals’ strong start by building two partnerships: the first with JP Duminy to lead Mumbai’s recovery after the loss of three early wickets, and the second with Kieron Pollard to accelerate at the end. That effort was backed up by a clinical performance from Mumbai’s bowlers, which left Rajasthan battling in a mid-table scrap at fourth place, and inflicted on them their first defeat in Jaipur.While their chase seemed doomed to fail after four wickets in the first seven overs, Rajasthan will look back at two phases where Mumbai could have been restricted. They grabbed three wickets in the Powerplay, but failed to keep up the pressure during a rebuilding endeavour by Tendulkar and Duminy. And they performed poorly in the field, with Adam Voges missing an easy opportunity to run out Pollard off his first ball, and Aditya Dole dropping a sitter off Tendulkar when on 45. The lapses cost Rajasthan dearly, as the pair helped plunder 68 off the last five overs to lift Mumbai to a score that proved out of Rajasthan’s reach.Tendulkar faced just 12 deliveries in Mumbai’s Powerplay, but adapted superbly, restraining himself while ensuring a healthy rate after the early setbacks, and taking off with ease at the death against Rajasthan’s seamers. Shane Watson removed Sanath Jayasuriya in his first over, and followed up by dismissing Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary with the bouncer, a weapon used successfully against local batsmen. But Duminy proved a suitable foil for Tendulkar, and the pair worked the field, picked the singles by calling well and accumulated 30 runs in five overs after the Powerplay.There was hardly anything for the Jaipur crowd to cheer thereafter, but franchise loyalties mattered little in a Shane Warne v Tendulkar contest that fans were deprived of in the previous encounter. Tendulkar prevailed today, with three boundaries in one over against his counterpart. Warne was the only Rajasthan spinner to rely on flight, and Tendulkar improvised twice by striking him inside-out through extra cover. And when Warne dropped one short, Tendulkar made room to cut him through point.Rajasthan had a chance once they broke the 63-run stand between Duminy and Tendulkar in the 13th over, but paid the price for mistakes in the field and some indisciplined bowling at the death. The seamers often bowled too short and when varying their pace, pitched the ball on a length which Tendulkar and Pollard were able to feed off with ease. Pollard began the surge with a slapped four off Dole in the 16th over and clipping Watson through fine leg in the next. He singled out Dole for treatment, smashing him for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries before being bowled to end a 50-run stand.Tendulkar’s acceleration was more calculated. He had picked out his spots in the field and it didn’t help Rajasthan that their bowlers gave him ample opportunity to find them. With a mid-on inside the circle in the penultimate over, Watson bowled short and was hammered over that fielder for two consecutive fours. When Siddharth Trivedi came on next, Tendulkar targeted the wide long-on region for two successive sixes and finished off with 20 in the final over.The only moment of promise in Rajasthan’s chase was when Michael Lumb struck Dhawal Kulkarni for two fours in the second over, before slashing one straight to point. Zaheer Khan was the best of the Mumbai bowlers, nipping the ball away from the batsmen and clocking in excess of 140 kph, and earned his reward when opener Naman Ojha edged to slip.While Rajasthan were generous in the field, Mumbai didn’t waste their chances and Shane Watson and Faiz Fazal were run out after responding late to calls from their partners. All hopes rested on Yusuf Pathan but there were no miracles this time, and when he was caught in the 14th over with the score on 85, Rajasthan’s fate was sealed.

After leaking ten runs off the first two balls of the 20th over, Fareed roared back to close out the game successfully

Alagappan Muthu05-Sep-202515:43

Can Afghanistan make the final of the Asia Cup?

Afghanistan had the game sewn up. They were playing a second-string side with even their captain Rashid Khan among six players sitting out. But Asif Khan threatened to rip it wide open. A dead rubber had burst to life. Fareed Ahmad started the final over with 16 to defend and was bashed for 4 and 6 off the first two deliveries. An upset was looming and the left-arm quick felt it. Asif felt it, batting on 40 off 25. It never came to be.Fareed had three chances to influence the outcome and he came up with the perfect option each time to close out the match: 4, 6, 2, dot, dot, wicket. And so, UAE ended the tri-series winless but they came so very close. The emotions at the end were excruciating, particularly for Asif and the captain Muhammad Waseem. They’re going to make the Asia Cup very interesting.

Eye-catching Ibrahim

Ibrahim Zadran was captaining Afghanistan for the 10th time in his career. Four of those games were against UAE. It is easy to see why he was the stand-in. He was cool when the runs didn’t come – 5 off 9 – and resplendent when they did. He looks so technically correct that even the shots in anger carried a stamp of class.There was one moment when he looked totally out of place though. He was utterly deceived by left-arm spinner Haider Ali’s change of pace and trajectory – the flatter ball making the batter think he should play back when the length was fairly full. Ibrahim lost his stumps for 48 off 34. He might feel a lot better about his contributions in the pointy end of the chase, where soon after he went up to have an arm around Fareed, the bowler switched from bowling over the wicket to round the wicket and gave away no more runs.Sharafuddin Ashraf conceded 20 runs in four overs and took a wicket•Emirates Cricket Board

Afghanistan slow down, Janat ramps up

It was a slow pitch and it showed when Afghanistan lost three wickets in 3.1 overs after a 98-run opening partnership. Karim Janat was 10 off seven balls at the time. He hit the only boundary during this spell too – a six, which are sometimes easier to pull off in these conditions especially against a bowling attack that didn’t camp in the good length spot for long enough. Often, they were too full or too short and that allowed Janat and the rest of his team-mates down the order to get underneath the ball.So it didn’t matter that overs 13, 14 and 15 went for only 16 runs. The next three yielded 36. Afghanistan finished on a healthy 170 for 4. Haider (2 for 23) and Simranjeet Singh (1 for 24) were the pick of the bowlers. Left-arm quick Muhammad Rohid was desperately unlucky with both of UAE’s dropped catches coming off his bowling. Rahmanullah Gurbaz enjoyed his second life going from 14 off 16 to 40 off 38.

UAE almost, but not quite

UAE took to the chase with gusto, scoring almost twice as many boundaries as Afghanistan did in the powerplay (7 vs 4). Waseem was enchanting, depositing Mujeeb Ur Rahman inside out over cover for six. He produced another lovely piece of innovation, upper-cutting the debutant Abdollah Ahmadzai over deep third as he stalks Rohit Sharma on top of the six-hitters’ table in T20Is and it was looking like UAE had the firepower to earn the consolation win that they desperately wanted.However, in trying the same shot, Waseem feathered an edge behind and the greenest member of a side that was saving most of its firepower for the final had punched through an opening. Afghanistan rallied to turn an equation that read 67 off 48 balls into a rather more troubling 43 off 18. Mujeeb and Noor Ahmad, bowling in tandem from the 14th to the 17th overs, were virtually unhittable. Then it was the debutant’s turn but Abdollah leaked 16 runs all to Asif and the UAE bench started to stir.Four more boundaries – one of them a dropped catch – across the last two overs kept the contest alive and created tension among the Afghanistan coaching staff but in the end, they just about squeezed through.

Abi Glen impresses with unbeaten fifty and three-for as hosts hold firm to win by 10 runs

ECB Reporters Network24-Apr-2024A fabulous 103 from new England star Hollie Armitage led Northern Diamonds to a come-from-behind 10-run victory over Western Storm in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Headingley.Inserted, the Diamonds slipped to 89 for 5 in the 21st over before captain Armitage led the fightback to 275 for 9 during her 114-ball innings with 13 fours.Allrounder Abi Glen also crashed a late 53 not out off 46 – her maiden regional fifty – during the first half of an engaging contest and later claimed three wickets with her seamers.Dani Gibson struck twice with the new ball and finished with 3 for 44 for Storm. But it was Armitage who won the battle of the England team-mates, leading her side to a second successive victory after Saturday’s win over Thunder.In reply, Storm were well placed at 127 for 2 in the 23rd over, only to fall to 265 all out in the last over when they needed 12 to win. Armitage will take the headlines, but Phoebe Turner also impressed with three wickets following 32 with the bat.Storm suffered a heavy opening day defeat, by eight wickets against Sunrisers when they were bowled out for 114. So this performance was much improved.Storm made an eye-catching start, led by Gibson’s dismissals of openers Sterre Kalis and Lauren Winfield-Hill. Both had stumps uprooted as the hosts fell to 50 for 2 after 10 overs.Spinners Sophia Smale and Amanda-Jade Wellington claimed three wickets like Gibson, but it was Australian overseas legspinner Wellington who was the pick of the Storm attack with 3 for 30 from 10 overs bowled on the reel through the middle of the innings.She had Bess Heath caught at point, fellow Aussie overseas Burns bowled trying to cut a ball too close to her and Leah Dobson caught brilliantly by a diving Niamh Holland coming in from deep midwicket.That left the Diamonds five down and still short of 100. But Armitage was outstanding.Last month, the 26-year-old made her senior England debut as a concussion substitute in a T20I against New Zealand in Nelson. Western Storm’s Gibson was in the same team.Armitage, who has scored two of her three regional centuries against the Storm, pulled with authority and drove with grace, supported well by Phoebe Turner’s 32 and Glen’s late fifty.She shared half-century stands with both for the sixth and eighth wickets, whilst reaching her century off 112 balls. She was caught at long-on two balls later off Smale as the innings drew to a close.Glen hit three fours off Lauren Filer in the innings’ last over, which went for 15. But the damage had already been done.Storm did, however, start their chase of 276 positively. Openers Smale and Alex Griffiths shared 59 inside 13 overs before the latter pulled Phoebe Turner out to deep midwicket to fall for 26.Turner then bowled Smale for 35, only for Fran Wilson and captain Sophie Luff to steady once more. They shared 47 and were well set at the crease when the off-spin of Aussie Erin Burns was introduced into the attack.And after eight balls, she had bowled both Wilson for 32 and Gibson for 5, leaving the score at 140 for 4 in the 25th over.When legspinner Katie Levick had Luff caught at mid-off for 25 shortly afterwards, Storm were 160 for 5 in the 30th having lost three wickets for 33.Natasha Wraith kept hopes alive with 27, only to be bowled by Phoebe Turner – one of two Turners in the Diamonds team along with Sophia. At 192 for 6 in the 38th, it felt like the decisive moment. So it proved.Wellington hit an aggressive 28 and Niamh Holland a laboured 29, and both were bowled by Glen and Sophia Turner before the former bowled Mollie Robbins. The Storm then needed 12 off the last with one wicket remaining. But Glen had Filer stumped to seal the win.

Wicketkeeper-batter hurt his knee while fielding in the first T20I on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2023Sanju Samson has been ruled out of the T20I series against Sri Lanka due to a knee injury. Jitesh Sharma, the Vidarbha and Punjab Kings wicketkeeper-batter, has been called in as cover for the remainder of the series.This is a maiden call-up for Jitesh, who is expected to link-up with the squad early on Thursday morning in Pune.”Samson hurt his left knee while attempting to field a ball near the boundary ropes during the first T20I,” a BCCI release stated. “He was taken for scans and a specialist opinion this afternoon in Mumbai by the BCCI Medical Team and has been advised rest and rehabilitation.”Related

• Shanaka overcomes Axar to help Sri Lanka keep the series alive

• India look to limit lapses as they eye another bilateral T20I series win

• Putting India in 'difficult situations' is Hardik's priority as T20I captain

• How Hooda bided his time and helped India finish strong

• Bumrah added to India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka

Samson is believed to have picked up the injury in the 13th over of Sri Lanka’s innings in the first T20I on Tuesday. His knee appeared to have got stuck on the turf as he tried to put in a slide at deep third to stop a boundary. Samson immediately left the field.It was largely a forgettable game for Samson, as he managed just 5 in India’s two-run victory. He had earlier dropped Pathum Nissanka in the first over of Sri Lanka’s chase.While Samson did not wear the wicketkeeping gloves in the first game, Jitesh has been added to India’s squad as a cover for Ishan Kishan for the next two T20Is. Jitesh had a good season for Kings last year in the IPL, where he scored 234 in 12 outings with a strike rate of 163.63.He had often played the finisher’s role for the team and was one of the 16 players retained by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2023 auction.Jitesh also had a superb 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Vidarbha, scoring 224 runs in ten games at a strike rate of 175.00.The injury to Samson might provide an opportunity for Rahul Tripathi to make his debut at his home ground. Tripathi has travelled with the squad for a while but is yet to get a game.India lead the three-match series 1-0.