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The South Africa quick had suffered back and hip injuries last year

Hemant Brar16-Jun-20221:36

Nortje – ‘This series teaches us a lot of skills’

South Africa fast bowler Anrich Nortje is still some way away from being at the level he was before his back and hip injuries, which kept him out of action for almost five months.Nortje was cleared of any serious injury just before IPL 2022 and allowed to continue his rehabilitation with Delhi Capitals. He made his comeback in Capitals’ third game of the tournament but it took him almost one more month to play his next match and feature regularly in the playing XI. Nortje finished the tournament with nine wickets from six games at an economy rate of 9.71. In the ongoing T20I series against India, he has three wickets so far from as many games, at an economy rate of 9.50.Related

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“No, not yet,” Nortje said when asked if he was back to his best. “I am still working on it, still trying to find one or two things, and body-wise also I am not 100% yet there where I want to be. It’s just about slowly increasing and slowly building it up. I would probably rate myself from where I was last year in the IPL and at the start of the World Cup, so still trying to get there.”Some of the bowling is limited, you can’t always just go out and bowl eight or nine overs in a day. But so far it has been a good challenge. I think it’s something that will help me a lot if there are any other niggles or injuries going forward. But it has been a long time and [there are] some important things to remember and take out of this.”But could he pinpoint what was missing? “If I knew exactly what it was, I would have done it,” he laughed. “I generally keep it very simple, stick to the basics. So it’s just going to be a small, minor adjustment. I am working on something at this stage and will see how it goes. Hopefully, I am on the right path. It’s not like it’s completely out of shape. It’s just small margins for me.”Anrich Nortje has picked three wickets so far in the T20I series against India•BCCI

When fully fit, Nortje is one of the fastest bowlers in the world. In IPL 2020, he clocked 156.2kph, which was the fastest delivery in the tournament between 2012 and 2020. This year, Umran Malik, who is part of India’s current T20I squad, broke his record by bowling at 156.9kph, before Gujarat Titans’ Lockie Ferguson went one ahead with 157.3kph in the final against Rajasthan Royals. Nortje, though, is more focused on winning the matches for his team than being the fastest bowler around.”At this stage, I’m not bothered too much about who is the fastest and what the speed gun says,” he said. “It’s about what I can contribute for the team. When you train, when you are not playing, you obviously think about how you can crank it faster with your work, your training, your gym, or whatever you’re doing. So in the back of my mind, it’s something that I would like to keep on striving towards. But it’s not something I’m thinking about when I go onto the field.”Malik is a very good bowler, very fast bowler. He showed what he can do. And if he gets faster, great for him. If I get faster, great for me. But I don’t think we are at that stage where we are competing to try and just bowl the fastest ball. It’s about winning games and trying to contribute.”South Africa currently lead the five-match T20I series 2-1, and Nortje reiterated that the team is aiming to seal the series as early as possible, without giving India a chance.”I said at the last game as well that this was sort of like a final for us. We obviously didn’t perform well or anything to what we are capable of. So this would probably be like a final again for us. A second chance but we need to seal the series as soon as possible and not give them an opportunity or any sniff, that’s the main goal of this series as well.”

Perth Scorchers set up 189-run chase but never really threaten to overhaul the target

Daniel Brettig06-Feb-2021Finally on home soil after the Covid-19 summer kept them at neutral venues for all 15 of their previous games, the Sydney Sixers rode on the back of another James Vince special to become the second Big Bash League club to claim back-to-back titles. Fittingly, at a joyous SCG, they defeated the Perth Scorchers, the only previous club to claim two crowns in a row, to get there.The Sydney Sixers players celebrate after clinching victory in the BBL 2020-21 final•Getty Images

Vince’s contribution was elegant as ever and summed up why the Sixers had the measure of the Scorchers in both of their finals meetings. This is not to say things could not have been different. Perhaps overly influenced by showers that passed through Sydney comfortably before the 7.40pm start time, the Scorchers had decided to bowl first upon winning the bat flip and then did not use the full allocation of the wristspinner Fawad Ahmed, comfortably their best bowler on the night.Those mis-steps aided the Sixers in compiling a total that, while not match-sealing, was going to be unreachable if the hosts put in a solid shift with the ball and in the field. Blessed with plenty of experience to bowl the right spells at the right times, the Sixers were never seriously challenged after the exit of Liam Livingstone.The seasoned trio of Jackson Bird, Steve O’Keefe and Dan Christian all put in excellent displays with the ball. Christian has now been part of nine domestic T20 title-winning combinations; the coach Greg Shipperd was at the helm for his sixth Australian T20 tournament win spanning both state and club-based eras. Old blokes do indeed win stuff.Vince turns platform into launchpad
Back against the Scorchers after his decisive 98 in Canberra which vaulted the Sixers into the final, Vince carried on almost as though he was continuing the same innings. Commanding through the off side as ever, but also feasting on short stuff from Jhye Richardson, Vince was almost totally at ease, even if the Sixers’ early progress was pockmarked by a horrid mix-up to end in the run-out of Josh Philippe after he and Vince ended up at the same end.One of Vince’s sixes, an inside-out lofted drive well over the cover boundary on the long side of the ground, was almost worth the price of a ticket alone, and the rest of the Sixers order contributed a series of complementary cameos around him. Denied a century by a possible accidental wide from Andrew Tye at Manuka Oval, Vince began to look a little ragged as he neared the milestone for a second time in as many innings, being dropped twice. He fell when slicing Ahmed to gully, a dismissal that hinted at how the wristspinner might have been better used.James Vince led the Sixers’ batting effort with a 60-ball 95•Getty Images

Fawad Ahmed: 3-0-16-1
On an SCG pitch that had to offer some assistance for spin, the Scorchers’ captain Ashton Turner appeared to get his sums wrong. How he managed not to find room for Ahmed to bowl his full four overs, conceding just 16 from three and also claiming the wicket of Vince, while bowling Livingstone’s occasionals for two that cost 21, stretched credulity. Certainly the exit of Daniel Hughes opened up a vast array of right-handers for Ahmed, and they proved far more adept at attacking pace.Richardson’s late-tournament fade continued with his most expensive analysis, while Aaron Hardie was also notably expensive. The final over of the innings had Carlos Brathwaite coming to the middle for his first ball and finding himself able to cosh a pull shot and then a straight drive after a typically effective contribution from Christian ended with a tight call on a full toss that may or may not have been worthy of a no-ball call. The Sixers walked off satisfied with what they had to defend.Sixers correct early errors in line
The sight of Cameron Bancroft walking out to open the batting must often cause intriguing thoughts for opponents, who respect his dogged attitude but can question his shot-making ability. Bancroft tried to clear the boundary in Bird’s opening over but saw the ball mistimed and plugged short of the rope, but he was to be rather more successful in subsequent overs as the Sixers bowlers drifted too short and straight, allowing him to ping the leg-side boundary numerous times.At length, the hosts made the requisite corrections, and Bird had Bancroft skewing a pull-shot attempt to mid-on. After having scored 36 from three overs, the Scorchers managed only 22 from the next four and lost the vital wicket of Colin Munro. Josh Inglis was promoted, and for a time he and Livingstone appeared to be rebuilding for a well-positioned dash at the target, doing just enough to keep the required rate around 10 per over.Jackson Bird removed both the Scorchers openers after they had settled in•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

A successful squeeze to the title
Bird returned for the 11th over of the innings with the game very much open. His subtle variations in length and line were successful in slowing the Scorchers, however, and made a pivotal contribution when Livingstone was pouched on the midwicket boundary. What followed were a pair of outstanding overs from the wily O’Keefe, who went from figures of 0 for 17 from two overs to a critical 0 for 26 from four: four dots and seven singles in those final 12 balls put an extreme squeeze on the Scorchers.Suddenly the required rate was pushing 13, and wickets followed inevitably even as the Scorchers took the Power Surge. Mitchell Marsh was wonderfully caught off Ben Dwarshuis – who picked up three overall – by Vince moving as smoothly in the field as he had done at the crease, and Inglis’ muted final innings of a successful campaign was ended with a miscue to mid-off. Christian delivered a typically canny follow-up over, and though Brathwaite conceded 16 from the 17th over, the Sixers always appeared to have enough in reserve.Having had to make homes away from home this summer, they celebrated as though the SCG decider was a long-awaited Saturday night house warming.

Somerset fight back after disastrous morning as Keshav Maharaj claims another five-for against them

Paul Edwards at Taunton10-Sep-2019
It is all too easy for folk in the West Country to fall in love with Somerset cricket and all too tempting at times to think their heroes have spurned such devotion. It is not so, of course; the players share that love, but as Yorkshire’s bowlers took six wickets for 85 runs and seamers’ cloud gave way to batsmen’s sunlight on this first morning many spectators at the County Ground feared this would be another September in which their hopes of a first title would founder.They may yet do so, of course. Yorkshire are only 129 runs behind the home team’s 199 and still have seven wickets in hand. But the day finished rather more evenly poised than had seemed likely when Somerset were in their lunchtime doldrums. Moreover, supporters have enjoyed unforgettable occasions at Taunton in recent years and few are more clearly printed on the mind than the morning four years ago to the day when Tom Abell reached his maiden first-class century. So perhaps it was fitting that it should be Abell, now Somerset’s captain, who rescued his team against Yorkshire with a patient innings of 66 which revealed all the nous the young skipper has picked up during four years in which his own resources, both mental and physical, have been tested to their limit.On a pitch offering slow turn and help to seamers who adhered to their disciplines, Abell eschewed the rashness which brought the downfall of Steve Davies, who was caught at point off Steve Patterson for 11 in the ninth over of the day. He also exhibited little of the technical looseness which caused James Hildreth to be bowled through the gate for a single by Duanne Olivier. Instead, he played late and watchfully, rarely driving through the V, wisely preferring to wait for the balls that were either too short or too wide.Somerset needed Abell’s vigilance. This is a game the home side may need to win if they are to sustain their dreams of the title. It is certainly a match Yorkshire must win if their own slender chances are to be anything more than arithmetical. So imagine the glee with which Abell and his players greeted the news that slow left-armer Keshav Maharaj would be available for this game. It may be compared to the joy likely to be felt by Andrea Leadsom were she to be told that John Bercow was dropping round for a cuppa and a chinwag. Maharaj, you see, took eleven wickets when playing for Lancashire in the tied match at Taunton last year; he then took another ten for Yorkshire in their innings victory over Somerset in July. And on this first day, he remained true to form by picking up another five, thus taking his total against Abell’s team to 26 in five innings at an average of 10.88.After the seamers had taken the first four wickets Maharaj was summoned to bowl at the River End ten minutes before lunch. His first wicket was something of a charity donation when George Bartlett decided it would be a good wheeze to reverse sweep the second ball after lunch. He duly edged a catch to Adam Lyth at slip. Young cricketers perceive reverse sweeps and scoops very differently to the old pro’s. They are part of their stock in trade. But it is still fair to ask whether the risk against reward equation worked in Bartlett’s favour on this occasion.In truth, Abell had little help until Jamie Overton joined him in a 51-run stand for the ninth wicket. Six of the first eight batsmen dismissed by Yorkshire’s bowlers reached double figures but none could manage more than the 15 notched by Dom Bess before he carelessly drove Maharaj to Tim Bresnan at short cover in the same over in which he had hit two fine fours. Bess was the seventh batsman dismissed but the fourth to be complicit in his departure. Overton, on the other hand, selected the ball to hit and celebrated the award of his county cap, after 153 games in all formats if you please, by clumping six fours in an unbeaten 40. Maharaj, of course, had the last word, removing both Abell and Josh Davey leg before wicket in the space of three balls to leave Somerset one run short of a batting point.Yorkshire began their innings as if intent on taking a first-innings lead this evening. Lyth hooked and pulled Davey for two sixes in the same over, thus taking him past 10,000 first-class runs for Yorkshire. But both he and Will Fraine were caught behind in the first six overs and after Gary Ballance had accumulated 35 runs in a little less than an hour, Dom Bess had Yorkshire’s top scorer leg before wicket ten balls before the close. We are thus set for a close contest, although no one is betting it will last into a fourth day.

The rugby side will be led by All Blacks captain Kieran Read while Brendon McCullum and Stephen Fleming will be among the cricketers on show

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2018The reputation of some of New Zealand’s most well-known cricketers will be on the line in January when they take on a side comprising current and former All Blacks, led by captain Kieran Read, in a charity T20 match in Christchurch.Billed as the Black Clash, the game will take place on January 25 at Hagley Oval with funds raised for the benevolent funds of the rugby and cricket player associations. The idea was put together by former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming who will act as player-coach of Team Cricket with Brendon McCullum among the names also set to feature.Kyle Mills, the former New Zealand pace bowler, will also be involved along with Grant Elliott, who announced his retirement from all forms of cricket last week, and Luke Ronchi. There could be an interesting tussle to see who has the services of Jeff Wilson, the former dual international who played both rugby and cricket for New Zealand.Team Rugby will be coached by Sir Graham Henry and is expected to include Richie McCaw as well as Beauden and Jordie Barrett and Israel Dagg who were excellent cricketers before opting for the rugby career route. As a schoolboy fast bowler, Dagg impressed the Australians during a net session in Napier in 2005.Read, meanwhile, played age-group cricket for Northern Districts in a team that featured Daniel Flynn, Anton Devcich, and BJ Watling but admitted there would be a few nerves ahead of his comeback”I’m going to be a bit nervous, to be honest,” he told Stuff.co.nz “You lose your hand-eye [co-ordination] pretty quick in this game. I’ll have to get out and hit a few balls to get my eye back in.”The event is based around South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Legacy Cup where the Springboks, the South African Rugby team, take on the Proteas, the national cricket team.”I thought if we had the opportunity with a brand as big as the All Blacks, it would pique my interest,” Fleming told the . “There is almost a bit of romanticism around this one, bringing a game to Christchurch in its rebuild.”We’re putting our reputations on the line here,” he added. “We know just how good the likes of Kieran and his rugby mates are at cricket. They’re exceptional athletes and many of them could have been international cricketers had they chosen another path. So we’re on high alert, that’s for sure.”

A Kane Williamson hundred and a Josh Hazlewood six-for highlighted yet another Champions Trophy washout between Australia and New Zealand at Edgbaston

The Report by Brydon Coverdale02-Jun-2017No result

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:54