Delay,match of rain, wet field: bizarre no-result

Delay,match of rain, wet field: bizarre no-result
The official presentation was carried out in gloomy circumstances with the official interviewer steering clear of even mentioning the delayed start, without which the crowd would have had a result. The studio shows and the official interviewer only spoke of how humans are helpless against "mother nature" and "weather". Without being prompted, the West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said he hoped the drainage and equipment would improve at the ground, which he said was a wonderful venue otherwise.
It would have been particularly disappointing for the India fans who would have been expecting to celebrate a bowling comeback after their side went for 245 on Saturday, and the comeback of Amit Mishra. He last played a Twenty20 international during the World T20 in 2014. In the next year-and-a-half India only played bilateral Twenty20 internationals, not bothering with flying in T20 specialists for one or two three-hour matches. By the time India started taking T20 internationals seriously again, in the lead-up to the 2016 World T20, Mishra had lost out to Pawan Negi and Harbhajan Singh without being given a chance to build on his impressive bowling in 2014.
Now, perhaps precisely because India didn't bother to fly in T20 specialists for another bilateral series, Mishra got another chance, and made immediate impact to help India bowl West Indies out for 143.

ODI series in Bangladesh confirmed

Afghanistan's only other experience playing against a Full Member side in bilateral ODI series is against Zimbabwe, with whom they have played three series so far.
In two previous 50-over encounters with Bangladesh, Afghanistan have won one and lost one; they beat Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2014 but lost in the 2015 World Cup.
ACB chairman Nasimullah Danish said that Afghanistan are trying to get more games with Full Members, and Bangladesh is just the start. "We are looking forward [to] entertaining cricket," he said. "We are in close discussion with ICC Full Members. It's always good for our team development to test ourselves in different conditions, and there's no better place than Bangladesh to do that.

Dilshan opens during captaincy tenure

Dilshan's own first assignment as captain had been Sri Lanka's tour of England, but broke his finger during his 193 at Lord's in the second Test. He suggested it had been with some reluctance that Sangakkara took on the captaincy for one Test, after that injury ruled Dilshan out for the game at Southampton.
"There actually wasn't anyone who was willing to be captain. Everyone resigned after the 2011 World Cup. In England a ball hit my hand and I broke my finger, and the former captains were asked to lead, and they said no. After that only when it was talked about that someone like Sanath Jayasuriya or Thilina Kandamby be made captain that someone presented himself to be captain. But I guess there's no point talking about those past things anymore.
"But I am proud that it is players that I brought into the team at the time who are winning matches now. About six or seven of the players today are cricketers who I'd given a chance to. At the time it was a problem for me, because people asked me why I was giving young players so many opportunities. But today, we should look at players like Dinesh Chandimal."
Dilshan still has two more T20 matches to play before he becomes an ex-cricketer across formats. He said the decision to retire had been spontaneous.

Yorkshire at the end of season

The announcement, which had been anticipated for much of the season, comes after Gillespie took up a contract to coach the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, and his wife, Anna and their four children have recently returned to live back in Australia.
"The club would like to place on record its thanks to Jason," read a club statement. "The focus will now be very much on the remaining four County Championship fixtures, beginning with Wednesday's trip to the Ageas Bowl to face Hampshire, and on securing the first Championship treble seen at Headingley since the 1960s."
Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's director of cricket, will not begin the search for Gillespie's replacement until the end of the current season. Paul Farbrace is one name that is bound to be floated - England's assistant coach had a successful period as head of Yorkshire's academy - but the former England coach, Peter Moores, is an unlikely contender as he can expect to be promoted to head coach at Nottinghamshire in an end-of-season reshuffle at Trent Bridge.

Fifties on truncated day

Gambhir, batting with an open-chested stance, seemingly in a bid to negate the away-going deliveries that have often discomfited him over a period of time, was troubled early on by his Delhi team-mate Sangwan. In the third over of the morning, the left-arm pacer saw an edge fall short of second slip and then had a shout for lbw turned down, but released the pressure in the very next over when he grassed a miscued pull at fine leg off Nathu.
Agarwal's technique outside off stump also came under scrutiny, but unlike Gambhir, he was happy to trust the bounce and hit through the line. After Nathu's initial burst, he looked increasingly comfortable against the Pandey and the spin of Akshay Wakhare and Kuldeep Yadav.
Kuldeep, the left-arm wrist spinner who picked up his maiden five-wicket haul last week, didn't get the kind of purchase he would have hoped for. He was also guilty of bowling a touch flat and short as Gambhir, who captains him at Kolkata Knight Riders, eased him repeatedly behind square on the off side.

Gillespie for reviving his career

At that time, he was what I needed. I was a bit raw, and struggling with my action," Plunkett said. "I thought it was all about technical. But it wasn't - it was just about backing myself.
"When I went there, that was what he picked up straightaway. He does other stuff with different people, but he knew what I wanted. He just said to me 'bowl fast', and he backed me. With that came confidence and performance."
"Whenever you have a bad spell he is always there patting you on the back and saying no worries mate you can change the game next spell. I take my hat off to him, I owe him quite a bit.
"I'm obviously gutted - because he was good for me, and good for the team. It's a tough decision that he's made. But I want to thank him - he's been great for me. He's brought me back to playing for England. So I wish him the best, and look forward to catching up when I get back to Yorkshire."
Yorkshire have gone out of both limited-overs competitions - the T20 Blast and Royal London Cup - at the semi-final stage over the last two weekends but a hat-trick of County Championship titles remains in view as they sit second in the table, five points behind leaders Middlesex.
"I hope we can make it three this year in the Championship," Plunkett said. "That would be a nice note to leave on. I'm sure there will be quite a few people trying to get that job

Lewis Hamilton at Spa circuit

Hamilton started the race 21st after being hit with a 55-place grid penalty for exceeding his permitted allocation of engine components.
He played down expectations after qualifying on Saturday, saying that making it into the top-10 points-scoring positions would be a tough ask while his Mercedes team predicted an eighth-place finish.
But circumstances fell into place for the 31-year-old on Sunday.
Hamilton made a clean start and rose through the field to fifth on durable medium tyres as drivers peeled off into the pits under the safety-car period prompted by Kevin Magnussen’s massive crash.
The subsequent red-flag stoppage allowed the Briton to take on fresh tyres without any penalty before he capped his progress up to the final podium spot with some spectacular overtaking moves.
“That was perfect for me,” said Hamilton, winner of six of the last seven races leading up to Spa.