Tag Futebol

South Africa have only successfully chased a score of 170-plus once in T20 cricket, and New Zealand made sure it stayed that way

The Report by Firdose Moonda16-Aug-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details 1:48

Moonda: NZ learnt from Durban mistakes

South Africa have only once successfully chased a score of 170-plus in T20 cricket, and New Zealand made sure it stayed that way. Kane Williamson’s line-up put right what they did wrong two days ago, and built on their start with the bat to allow for a flourishing finish. Their attack adapted and studded South Africa’s scorecard with scalps to ensure the hosts were never quite in a chase of 178.Unlike Durban, where the temperatures stay tropical even in the dry winter, the arid air in Centurion has an effect and both teams thought that would warrant the inclusion of two specialist spinners on a parched, cracked surface. Both teams opened with a spinner, but neither got the desired result.Aaron Phangiso’s first ball was hammered wide of a diving AB de Villiers at cover, while Nathan McCullum’s first over was boundary-less, but only because Williamson pulled off an exceptional stop and mid-off. Instead, it was a strip for seamers but only those willing to bend their backs. The short ball proved an effective weapon as Mitchell McClenaghan showed, but South Africa did not make as much use of it as they should have.For the second match in succession, they went too full and New Zealand took advantage. The visitors scored 64 runs in the v which amounted to more than a third of their total. By contrast, South Africa only managed 26 runs down the ground and lost both Morne van Wyk and David Miller to the short ball, while only Farhaan Behardien, with a career-best 36, put up something of a fight.Behardien was the only South African who had reason to celebrate – he also took his first T20 wicket when Martin Guptill holed out to a full toss – but by then New Zealand were already faring better than they had on Friday night.Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott provided plenty that was pitched up, and Williamson and Guptill plundered runs over their heads. Their partnership was worth 50 when Williamson sliced Rabada to deep third man and when Guptill was dropped two overs later, New Zealand looked ready to replay their Kingsmead collapse.But South Africa were unable to enforce the same squeeze. Guptill was on 38 when Miller put him down, and he added another 22 runs to his score, mostly by taking on the spinners. He brought up his sixth T20 fifty – the only one of the game – with a slog sweep off Eddie Leie and breached the boundary one more time before holing out to a full-toss offered by Behardien.Grant Elliott followed Guptill in the following over when he was trapped on the front pad by a tossed up delivery from Phangiso, but still, New Zealand did not slow down. They scored 63 runs off the last seven overs as Neesham and Colin Munro brought out an array of strokes, with Munro taking 18 runs off Abbott’s third over with clean strokes down the ground.Rabada had Neesham and Munro dismissed in consecutive balls to find himself on a hat-trick for the second time in the series. Abbott did not enjoy the same fortune, though, and went wicketless for the third international match in a row.South Africa were never able to get on a similar roll. Van Wyk was cramped for room on the pull and caught behind in the third over, and Hashim Amla was caught at point in the fourth which meant an unsteady start.De Villiers, Rilee Rossouw, Farhaan Behardien and Miller all had the opportunity to put that right but none showed the patience required to do that. De Villiers departed cheaply, going for one big shot too many and Rossouw, who showed proficiency against both pace and spin, came out of his crease to pull Ish Sodhi and found short midwicket which left Behardien and Miller to score 103 runs in the second half of the South Africa innings.Scoreboard pressure increased when they found the boundary only four times in the five overs that followed and Behardien, although comfortable, through caution to the wind. He slog-swept a Nathan McCullum full toss to deep mid-wicket to begin South Africa’s slide. A wicket fell in each of the next three overs as the pressure told. New Zealand offered deliveries South Africa could not resist hitting and the visitors’ fielding was sharp enough to take the chances.Behardien, David Wiese, Phangiso and Miller joined de Villiers, Rossouw, Amla and van Wyk in falling to big shots, but the lower-middle order’s collapse was more dramatic. South Africa lost 4 for 19, stubbed out of the chase and were forced to share the series spoils.

An opening stand of 134 runs between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Paul Stirling helped Sylhet Royals crush Khulna Royal Bengals by 61 runs in Mirpur

The Report by Mohammad Isam12-Feb-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck his third half-century of the tournament•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Sylhet Royals bounced back from a lacklustre performance against Chittagong Kings in their last match, as they crushed Khulna Royal Bengals by 61 runs. Their openers, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Paul Stirling helped lay the foundation for the big victory with a 134-run stand.They scored 66 each, striking 19 fours and three sixes between them, to lead Sylhet to 196 for 3 in their 20 overs. Chanderpaul used the crease expertly during his innings, and even employed the switch-hit a number of times with mixed results. He had more success with the sweeps, which he played between square leg and the wicketkeeper. Stirling drove belligerently for most of his innings, thriving on the strike he was fed by Chanderpaul.After the openers fell and the Royals needed a final flourish, Nazmul Hossain Milon played his best innings of the tournament. He hit five sixes in an unbeaten 14-ball 36 that took the Royals’ total close to the 200-mark. He struck five sixes, and was much more aggressive than Elton Chigumbura, with whom he shared an unbroken 52-run stand.Royal Bengals couldn’t make amends with the bat. Mithun Ali and Riki Wessels added 84 runs for the fifth wicket, after their top order was dismissed cheaply, to reduce the margin of defeat. Mithun scored 60 off 47 balls, his first major contribution in this year’s competition.This was Sylhet’s eighth win in the tournament, but they remained in second position behind Dhaka Gladiators, while Khulna end their campaign with nine losses out of 12 games.

Tim Southee hopes New Zealand will build on their hammering of Zimbabwe and get to celebrate many more Test wins

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-2012In Hobart last December, after winning a Test in Australia for the first time in 26 years, New Zealand celebrated their achievement in a new way. The players strolled out to the pitch in their whites, sang a team song, and settled down to enjoy a few drinks to mark the moment. They did it again in Napier after hammering Zimbabwe. Tim Southee said the acting-captain Brendon McCullum was the brains behind the celebration and that New Zealand wanted to make it an often-repeated ritual.”It’s a pledge which has been around a long time,” Southee said. “Brendon McCullum has been driving it. It’s something we will make a tradition as Test wins keep coming.”Of their four Tests this summer, New Zealand have won three, and Southee hoped victory would become a habit for this team. “It’s a great thing to win Test matches. It’s an amazing feeling and we are slowly making a bit of a habit of it. Hopefully we can have this group of guys together for a long time and keep that winning feeling.”In each of those victories, New Zealand displayed a different aspect of their recent development: strong temperament in tight game in Bulawayo, the ability to beat some of the best in Hobart and ruthlessness in Napier. The innings-and-301-run victory at McLean Park could have been more emphatic if most of the second day had not been washed out.”If the rain hadn’t come it could have been all over in two days or two and a half days,” Southee said. “It was a dream day. Days like that are what you play Test cricket for. It was a great to have a win, and to win so convincingly and build on that game from Hobart.”Like they did at Bellerive Oval, New Zealand played four fast bowlers in Napier, on a pitch that assisted the quicks. Seventeen wickets fell to pace, eight of them to Chris Martin, as Zimbabwe were dismissed twice in a day. “We went with the four-seamer attack again. In the first innings everyone chipped in,” Southee said. “But, in the second innings, it was just an outstanding individual performance by Chris. The way he bowled showed there’s still a bit of kick in the old boy yet.”With Martin guiding the young bowlers such as Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell, Southee said New Zealand had a good balance. “The experience of the older guys and the excitement of the young guys mixed in is great. We are very excited about what the future holds.”The immediate future holds three ODIs and two Twenty20s against Zimbabwe before the series against South Africa, which Southee calls “the key of the summer,” starting with three T20s and three ODIs. The glut of limited-overs cricket means New Zealand will have to make a speedy adjustment to the format, and Southee was confident they would. “It wasn’t that long ago that we had a white ball in our hands and it shouldn’t take too long to adapt back to that,” he said. “It will just be a narrowing down of skills and practicing death and slower balls, change of pace and things like that.”New Zealand’s first ODI against Zimbabwe is in Dunedin on February 3.

Newly-appointed team manager and former captain, Richie Richardson, says Darren Sammy’s team can “spring a few surprises”

Sharda Ugra10-Feb-2011The weather gods have rained on the West Indies’ parade all throughout their lead-up to the 2011 World Cup. Their five match-ODI series in Sri Lanka was first postponed due to bad weather, then shrunk down to three matches, one of which was, again, rained out. Then ten days before the World Cup began, the latest ICC rankings announced that the two-time World Cup-winning West Indies now find themselves at No.9, behind Bangladesh in the ODI rankings, their lowest position so far.Yet newly-appointed team manager and former captain, Richie Richardson, says Darren Sammy’s team can “spring a few surprises” in a World Cup where, “every team has a chance.”Richardson told ESPNcricinfo from Colombo, “We are not affected or thinking about our ranking… because we have gone down one spot in the ranking won’t have a negative effect on us. We are just trying to get our minds right, get our players in as good a condition as possible. In a one-day tournament, it’s how well a team plays on the day, and how consistent you are. If we can raise our game and if we can really come together and play as a unit, I believe we can spring a few surprises.”At the World Cup, the West Indies have been clubbed with India, South Africa, England, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands in Group B, and are expected to struggle to make it to the knock-out stage. The team has had a very poor ODI record over the last two years, its last ODI victory over a Test team was in June 2009 versus India.Richardson, whose last international appearance was in the semi-final of the 1996 World Cup, said that every World Cup tournament acts as a clean slate. “At a World Cup, it doesn’t matter how you are doing, how good you are, what number in the ranking. Every team at the World Cup looks forward to go out there and win it. Sometimes you have some upsets. The little teams want to cut down the big teams…”If the West Indies are being thought of as a ‘little team’ in this World Cup, it is because they have only beaten Zimbabwe, Canada and Ireland over the last 12 months. A player-strike over the contracts issue in 2009 and the 2010 decision by Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard to turn down West Indian Board contracts have only added to the grim news around the team. Richardson said that as manager of the World Cup team, “What happened in the past in terms of the contracts is none of my business… I just want to make sure the players are in the right frame of mind and are ready to go and play World Cup.”When asked whether the World Cup would be the critical moment in which Pollard, the attacking right-hander who had made a name for himself in Twenty20, could prove his credentials in top-flight cricket, Richardson responded first with a simple emotive message about what the event means for the squad as a whole – an opportunity to win back some territory in the international game.”I say that to the players, we’ve got to go there and prove to the world that we can play cricket. Let’s surprise a lot of people, because people at the moment are not thinking very highly of us. But we have got to just focus on what we have to do, believe in what we can do and create a few upsets. That’s what we want to do – go and impress. Every single player…”He then turned his attention to Pollard, saying, “Pollard is a hard-hitting batsman in Twenty20 and at the end of the day if you are a batsman, you are a batsman and you should be able to adjust in various situations. He (Pollard) should not be thinking that he’s just a Twenty20 player. When he gets the opportunity he should be looking to go there and bat and do well.”And I’m hoping that what he’s thinking. Quite often the press has opinions; the fans have an opinion… At the end of the day you have to focus on what you have to do and work there and work hard.”Other than Pollard, the West Indies have several quality batsmen in their ranks, both experienced and upcoming, but have a fragile and understocked bowling unit. Richardson said, “Well, you know cricket is not played on paper. We don’t think that we are weak in that area, we don’t think, oh we don’t have bowlers in the top five or whatever. We know what we are capable of doing. If players bowl in the areas they have to bowl, bowl with control and the confidence and the fielders support the bowlers, anything is possible.”My approach has always been a very a positive one and this is what you have to instil it the players. You can’t listen to what people are saying, we have just got to work with what we have and back ourselves and do what we have to do to do well in this tournament.”He said the team would not be affected by the fact that the scheduled five-match ODI series versus Sri Lanka had been reduced to three, in which eventually only two full ODIs were possible. “All the players were actively playing cricket prior to arrival here in Sri Lanka. We have still being practicing every day. The rain has not affected our practice session. We have a couple more matches; we think we’re in good shape. We have a few more days to get ourselves right, so we’ll continue to work hard. We believe that at the start of our World Cup, the first match on the [February] 24 [against South Africa in Delhi], we’ll be ready.”Given that he played in a very different era for West Indian cricket, Richardson said taking over as manager at a time when the region’s cricket was at its lowest was “not easy”, but he said, “there are certain things in life you have to accept. You have good periods, you have bad periods. If you are on top, you are not going to be on top forever… I’m not one to have a go at the players, have a go at certain situations. What we need is accept that things are not as nice or as great as it once was, but it is for us to work hard to bring it back… We know the fans expect great things of us and we want them to support us because we will give our 100 percent.”For all the bad tidings around the West Indies, they do have what other teams in the competition would crave for: fifteen fit men to choose from. The worry around the sight of a limping Bravo after pulling off a stunner of a catch for Victoria in the Australian Big Bash versus Western Australia is now a thing of the past. Bravo, a team spokesman said, has recovered well.

A round-up of the second day’s action of the third round of the WICB Four-Day Competition 2009-10

Cricinfo staff24-Jan-2010Centuries from Wavell Hinds and Carlton Baugh put Jamaica in total control against Guyana in St Philip. The day began with the teams on even terms, but the overnight pair swung the game completely Jamaica’s way with a 232-run stand for the sixth wicket. Hinds, who had scored a half-century on the first day, helped himself to 151 and was supported by Baugh who finished with 124. For Guyana, Brandon Bess and offspinner Veerasammy Permaul bagged nine wickets between them, the latter recording his first five-for, but Jamaica ended up posting a formidable 429. Their bowlers were not far behind, as left-arm spinner Nikita Miller grabbed three for 25 to limit Guyana to 112 for 5 at stumps, still 317 behind.Windward Islands consolidated their dominant position gained on first day against Combined Campuses and Colleges in Bridgetown. Opener Devon Smith smashed 122 and though the next best score in the team was 36, Windwards were able to gain a satisfactory lead of 128 after having bowled out their opponents on the opening day. There was some support in the lower order, as Donwell Hector and Shane Shillingford chipped in with important contributions to stretch the lead past 100. Fast bowler Jason Bennett bagged a five-for to keep his team in the game. However, when CCC came out to bat facing a testing lead, their batsmen struggled as the openers fell quickly to leave the team at 38 for 2 at stumps, still 90 away from the deficit.Captain Ryan Hinds helped Barbados gain the advantage over Trinidad and Tobago at the Kensington Oval. T&T declared on their overnight score as Ravi Rampaul wasn unable to bat due to an illness. The Barbados reply was a collective effort but each batsman reaching double-figures, of which went past 50. Opener Jason Haynes contributed 51, Kevin Stoute made 46 but it was Hinds who held firm through the day, remaining unbeaten on 111 to take his team to 327 for 6 and secure a 56-run lead. Spinners Amit Jaggernauth and Imran Khan bagged three wickets each.

Mark Pettini’s perfectly paced half-century helped Essex to top spot in the NatWest T20 Blast South Division and inflicted Somerset’s fifth defeat in eight matches.

Press Association27-Jun-2014
ScorecardMark Pettini spearheaded Essex’s run chase•Getty ImagesMark Pettini’s perfectly paced half-century helped Essex to top spot in the NatWest T20 Blast South Division and inflicted Somerset’s fifth defeat in eight matches.The opener contributed an unbeaten 60 to put his side well on course to overhaul their opponents’ modest 150 for 7 at Taunton when bad light intervened with Essex 106 for 2.After a short break, the visitors were given a revised target of 125 from 17 overs, which meant they needed 19 from 15 balls. Ravi Bopara hit the first of them for four on his way to 33 not out and Essex breezed home by eight wickets with an over to spare. Jesse Ryder hit 28 at the top of the innings.Legspinner Max Waller was Somerset’s best bowler, with figures of 1 for 22 from four overs. But their seamers erred on the short side as Pettini and Bopara hit five fours apiece and Ryder four fours and a six.With Hampshire losing to Surrey, victory was enough for Essex to overtake the previous leaders.Somerset’s below-par score was built around a second-wicket stand of 80 in 9.3 overs between in-form duo Craig Kieswetter and Peter Trego after Marcus Trescothick’s miserable T20 season continued when he top-edged a pull shot off Graham Napier and was caught at deep midwicket for 16.Kieswetter’s consistency as a run-maker in T20 is incredible. He has only had one score below 37 in his last 15 innings in the domestic competition spread over two seasons. His 40 in this game included two fours and two sixes, one of them a mighty blow over long-on off Bopara that sent the ball out of the ground.Trego was subdued by his standards, striking four fours before being run-out as he slipped when sent back by Alviro Petersen attempting a single to short fine-leg. Essex never allowed their opponents to break free of the early grip imposed by Napier and David Masters.Left-arm spinner Tim Phillips was the most economical bowler for the visitors, conceding only 24 from his four overs. Petersen did his best to bolster the total with 26 off 17 balls, but 150 did not look a particularly challenging score.After the game Essex head coach Paul Grayson said: “Our first target is a top-four finish in the group to reach the quarter-finals. If we can achieve that and push for the top two then great because home advantage and a quarter-final tie at Chelmsford would be very special.”Kieswetter said: “For some reason we are not coming up with the right formula for T20 cricket this season. All the necessary skills are in the squad, but we are not executing them consistently enough. I think the bowlers are doing a good job, but we are not giving them big enough targets to defend.”

The two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has released its detailed judgment, citing the removal of Zaka Ashraf from the post of PCB chairman as against the principle of “natural justice”. According to the judgment, a copy of which ESPNcricinfo has obtained, Ashraf was removed without being given the chance of a hearing.Following the High Court ruling on Wednesday, Ashraf has been reinstated as PCB chairman and the cricket board stands restored with effect from May 25, 2013 – the day it was suspended by the IHC. The governing board, which was earlier dissolved, will also be reinstated. During the interim period, the PCB had signed short-term broadcasting deals, awarding the broadcast rights of the South Africa and Sri Lanka series to Ten Sports and Geo Super respectively and also appointed Moin Khan as the team manager. According to the judgement, the above decisions are still valid.”The respondent Chaudhry Muhammad Zaka Ashraf was removed from the post of the Chairman, PCB in violation of the principle of natural justice,” the judgement stated. “As no opportunity of hearing was provided to him as the time of removal, so by setting aside the impugned judgment we order restoration of Zaka Ashraf as chairman PCB.”A single judge bench headed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui last year had asked for changes in the structure of the PCB after hearing the writ petition filed by a former Rawalpindi Cricket Association official against the board elections held in May, when Ashraf was elected chairman for a four-year term under the new PCB constitution. The court had suspended Ashraf and questioned the legality of his election, calling the process “dubious” and “polluted”.Both Ashraf and the PCB appealed against the Siddique-judgment and the IHC subsequently formed a two-judge appellate bench, naming Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan and Justice Noor-ul-Haq Qureshi to hear the appeal. Both, after lengthy hearings, released their judgements on Thursday, allowing Ashraf to resume office.Following Ashraf’s suspension, Najam Sethi was appointed the interim chairman of the PCB. The Siddique-judgement, however, had directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to carry out fresh elections for the post of chairman within 90 days. But Sethi failed to hold those elections and instead, just before the deadline on October 15, the prime minister of Pakistan – the new patron of the PCB according to the court – Nawaz Sharif, dissolved the governing board of the PCB, and formed a five-member Interim Management Committee (IMC), headed by Sethi, to administer cricket in the country.The latest judgement, however, did not overrule any of the decisions made by the IMC. “All decisions taken by PCB or IMC during the interim period would be considered as legal and would stand validated. Since the appointment of the Interim Management Committee was temporary, so with the pronouncement of this judgment, the said committee would stand dissolved. The situation for the PCB would come back to the day when the writ petition was filed.”The judges appellate bench, dismissed the original petition filed by Ahmad Nadeem Sadal, who first contested Ashraf’s election. Sadal happens to be a former official of the Army Cricket Club in Rawalpindi, and the judges questioned how his fundamental rights were affected by Ashraf’s presence as chairman.”The petitioner was also required to establish direct or indirect injury to him and substantial interest in the proceedings,” the judgement stated. “In the present case, the petitioner had nothing to do with the post of chairman, PCB. By appointment of the said chairman, no loss was caused to the petitioner, no right had been infringed; he was not a contender for the post of chairman, PCB and he has no cause of action or to file writ petition.”Historically, the PCB has been an autonomous body with the country’s president as its Patron. But the Siddiqui-order named the prime minister as the new Patron, taking away all powers from the president. The fresh judgment, however, didn’t overturn the order and the prime minister remains the Chief Patron.

The World Twenty20 Qualifier gets underway on Friday, with 72 matches to be played in 16 days across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah

Peter Della Penna14-Nov-2013A 16-team Associate and Affiliate battle royal known as the World Twenty20 Qualifier gets underway on Friday across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Last year’s event in the UAE was a physically taxing experience for all the teams that took part. The winners, Ireland, toiled through 11 matches in 12 days of desert heat to outlast all other comers, only to have one of their two matches at the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka cruelly halted by rain.Ireland return to the UAE to defend their title, and this time, they won’t be running on fumes by the time the play-off stage begins in Abu Dhabi. This year’s qualifying tournament has been extended by four days, giving each of the participants a few more precious days off to recharge.The tournament will be no less of a slugfest though, with 72 games in 16 days, and the reward for finishing in the top six and reaching the main event next year in Bangladesh is not a guaranteed date with Australia or West Indies like in 2012. Another hurdle will have to be cleared, in the form of a second qualifying round of fixtures featuring Full Members Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.Aside from the fact that six teams will now advance to the opening phase in Bangladesh instead of two, the biggest change to this year’s format is the increase from six to 10 teams for the play-offs. A team can finish as low as fifth in their respective eight-team round-robin pool and still have a chance to finish in the top six in the final standings if they can pull off wins in two consecutive play-off contests.Group A

Ireland

Namibia

Canada

Uganda

USA

Italy

Hong Kong

UAE

The favouritesThe defending champions Ireland trade off the departure of Boyd Rankin from the squad that won this tournament in 2012 for the addition of Niall O’Brien, who missed last year’s event, in part due to his decision to play in the Bangladesh Premier League. While Rankin will be missed, Ireland still managed to finish in the top two at the qualifiers in 2010, when Rankin was out of action due to injury, and they have enough depth without him to do well again. Paul Stirling was the Man of the Match in last year’s final and Ireland will be banking on him to intimidate bowling attacks throughout the tournament.UAE finished third in the World Cricket League Championship table, behind only Ireland and Afghanistan. They were especially formidable in home conditions, winning six out of eight games in Sharjah including a sweep of Afghanistan. Opposing teams will struggle to match up against their plethora of tweakers, including a trio of left-arm spin options led by allrounder and captain Khurram Khan, Ahmed Raza and Shadeep Silva. Canada have been revitalised recently by the return of Ashish Bagai, who finished graduate school in Pennsylvania this year and has now come back to take over as captain. His middle-order presence reinforces the top order, which is anchored by the rapidly improving Ruvindu Gunasekera.Battle for play-off spotsNamibia were surging on a wave of confidence heading into last year’s qualifier and went undefeated in the group stage before faltering in the play-offs. However, it’s highly unlikely they will finish the group stages with an unblemished record this time around. Louis van der Westhuizen smashed a century against Scotland in the group stage last year, and Raymond van Schoor was named Player of the Tournament after leading the runs list in the group stage but van der Westhuizen has struggled for runs lately and the team is also missing the presence of the veteran Gerrie Snyman. They were beaten comfortably in their two pre-tournament warm-up games by Kenya and Scotland and will be targeted by some of the mid-tier teams in the group.Hong Kong in particular are a well-balanced side, and will be expected to show a stark improvement from their disappointing sixth-place finish in Group A last year. While conditions will generally favour spinners during the event, pace bowlers who can bowl above 135 kph, like Irfan Ahmed and Aizaz Khan, will be key to their team. Italy do not have the overall depth of the better teams in the group but they still have enough tools to keep the pressure on Hong Kong and Namibia. That they nearly beat Ireland at last year’s event should not be forgotten.Wooden spoon candidatesUSA and Uganda both have strong spin attacks suited to the conditions at this tournament. However, neither side has the batting depth to be serious contenders and they will realistically need to restrict teams to no more than 130 to have any chance of chasing down a target. USA have the experience of captain Neil McGarrell and Adam Sanford, as well as power-hitters in Steven Taylor and Timroy Allen, but the team is far too reliant on Taylor to be able to consistently post big scores. Even 130 may look like a mountain for Uganda. They were held to 76 for 9 in a pre-tournament warm-up against Afghanistan.Group B

Afghanistan

Netherland

Scotland

Kenya

Bermuda

Denmark

Nepal

Papua New Guinea

The FavoritesThis group is likely to be the more tightly contested one of the two. While Afghanistan are expected to top the group, the finishing positions for slots two through five are anyone’s guess. Afghanistan did lose to Canada in a warm-up match earlier in the week but they were without the services of former captain Nawroz Mangal and Shapoor Zadran due to visa issues. Afghanistan were dominant throughout the group stage last year, thanks to the team’s leading scorer Mohammad Shahzad. This time, they will have Hamid Hassan back at full strength to bolster their fast bowling even more. Hassan’s presence makes Afghanistan favourites to dethrone Ireland as the kings of the Associates.While Netherlands are not as strong without Tom Cooper and Timm van der Gugten, they still have enough experience to get them into the top three of their group. Peter Borren and Eric Szwarczynski are lynchpins for the Dutch and will provide some much-needed stability in their batting order. Scotland have had the benefit of reinforcements from the English county scene, thanks to a revision of ICC eligibility requirements. Matt Machan in particular has been a key addition and should help take some pressure off of captain Kyle Coetzer as they look to secure a strong position heading into the play-offs.Battle for play-off spotsThis is where the group is likely to turn into a dogfight. Nepal finished seventh a year ago, with a win over Kenya and a narrow defeat to Canada. They are riding high after winning WCL Division Three in May to advance to the 50-over World Cup Qualifier in January. Nepal aspire to be a top-flight Associate, and this is their chance to show how much they’ve matured. Paras Khadka was one of the stars of last year’s tournament with his solid all-round performances, while Gyanendra Malla is one of the most dynamic batsmen outside of the Full Member world. Nepal also have a slew of spinners led by Shakti Gauchan and Basant Regmi, that will look to strangle opposition scoring rates and put Nepal in a good position to advance to the play-offs.Kenya’s shellacking at the hands of Afghanistan in October sounded off alarm bells in Nairobi. An SOS call went out to Steve Tikolo and the 42-year-old responded to come out of retirement. Kenya are depending on him to galvanise the rest of the team in order to arrest their free fall from the heights of 2003. Papua New Guinea are a hungry and energetic side who’ll be breathing down the necks of Kenya and Nepal in an effort to squeeze them out of the top five. PNG finished fourth in Group A last year and an 18-run win over Ireland in a tournament warm-up match on Wednesday has made the rest of the teams in Group B take notice of their bid to progress into the knockout stages.Wooden spoon candidatesBermuda were swept aside in a set of three trial matches by USA ahead of the tournament. They struggled to get to 100 runs in each game, with their highest total only being 108. They chased down 182 against a good Canada side in a tournament warm-up match but also failed to get the 129 needed to win against a weaker Italy side. This is a mercurial unit who are more likely to go bust than boom. Denmark are also unlikely to make a splash. The team won just a single match in the 2012 Qualifier, against Bermuda, and wound up finishing in last place. After Freddie Klokker, the batting is paper thin and the likelihood of Denmark challenging anyone in Group B is remote.

A round-up of the Dhaka Premier Division matches that took place in the tournament’s penultimate day

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2013Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club continued their remarkable winning streak, beating Prime Bank by five wickets in Savar. The unfashionable club from Dhaka’s south has now defeated three big names, having slayed Abahani and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in their last two matches.Offspinners Tillakaratne Sampath and Sohag Gazi made the difference by picking three wickets each. Sampath, Dilshan’s younger brother, removed countrymen Lahiru Thirimanne and Jeevan Mendis to trigger a middle-order collapse. Prime Bank never recovered from losing those quick wickets, getting bowled out for 182 in 48.5 overs.Saikat Ali and Thirimanne scored half-centuries but Prime Doleshwar kept it tight even when Taibur Rahman added 44 for the seventh wicket with Fariduddin.Prime Doleshwar’s reply didn’t start well, losing two wickets at 13, but their Sri Lankan pair of Roshen Silva and Sampath added 89 runs for the fifth wicket to get them very close to the winning score. Silva was unbeaten on 63 off 105 balls with four fours and two sixes.Prime Bank now have two wins and two losses, while Prime Doleshwar lead the table with three wins and a better run-rate than Mohammedan Sporting Club who have also won three games.Scott Styris’ first List A hundred in more than two years helped Gazi Tank to a five-wicket win over Cricket Coaching School at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.The former New Zealand batsman made 102 off 119 balls with nine fours and a six, playing the anchor role in a tricky chase of 256. He walked in at the sixth over with his side two down, but soon turned things around with Imrul Kayes. The pair added 122 runs for the third wicket with Imrul hitting his first fifty of the league.Raqibul Hasan complemented the pair, and continued to milk the CCS bowlers after both Styris and Imrul got out. He remained unbeaten on 58, as Gazi Tank completed the win in the final over.Earlier, the CCS batsman continued their hot-and-cold performance as they put up 255 for 7. They have made two scores of below 100, including being bowled out for 35 in their first game, and also scored 200-plus twice in their four matches.Salman Hossain and Gihan Rupasinghe made fifties, the pair also adding 82 for the fourth wicket which gave the lower order the impetus to push the total past the 200-run mark.A pair of 70s from Anamul Haque and Shalika Karunanayake helped set up Victoria Sporting Club’s second win in the Dhaka Premier League. They beat Kalabagan Krira Chakra by 85 runs in Fatullah after they posted 231 in 48.4 overs.Anamul and Karunanayake added 88 runs for the third wicket after they were 44 for 2 in the 13th over. It was a timely knock for Anamul who is among a few vying for a top-order place in the Bangladesh Test for the upcoming home series against New Zealand. His 70 came off 84 balls with three sixes and three fours respectively. Karunanayake was sixth out in the 42nd over, facing 79 balls with four fours and three sixes.Kalabagan’s chase started cautiously but they soon suffered a middle-order collapse, in which they plummeted from 80 for 2 to 93 for 6. Tasamul Haque made 34, and that was the only score of note as they suffered their third defeat in four games.Nasir Hossain and Enamul Haque took three wickets each for Victoria, while Monir Hossain and Milinda Siriwardena got two each.