Day: October 18, 2021

Dubai, October 18, 2021 (PPI-OT):Curtis Campher’s devastating four wickets in four balls helped Ireland to romp home to a seven-wicket victory in their opening ICC Men’s T20 World Cup fixture against the Netherlands.

The 22-year-old reduced the Netherlands to 51 for six before Mark Adair mopped up the tail to leave Ireland needing just 107 to win.

Paul Stirling anchored Ireland’s chase and Gareth Delany provided the firepower to give Ireland a first win at an ICC T20 World Cup since 2014.

Having won the toss and chosen to bat, the Netherlands continued the theme of the tournament so far with one of their openers getting out for a duck.

Ben Cooper was run out as Max O’Dowd set off for a quick single from the non-striker’s end and Cooper was so far from safety Paul Stirling could take two attempts to dislodge the bails.

The Netherlands reached their 50 in the ninth over and looked to be making steady progress towards the halfway mark before Curtis Campher came on for his second over.

His spell began inauspiciously with a wide but five balls later he had four wickets in four balls and had reduced the Netherlands to 51 for six.

Campher saw off Colin Ackermann for 11 runs before sending veteran Ryan ten Doeschate back to the hutch out lbw. After a review, Scott Edwards was consigned to the same fate before Roelof van der Merwe dragged the ball onto his stumps.

The Netherlands needed rescuing and opener O’Dowd took on that responsibility, crunching back-to-back boundaries off Ben White to move their total to 71 for six from 13 overs.

O’Dowd brought up his half-century off 44 balls seemingly undeterred by the devastation he had just witnessed, but he was not immune to error either, slashing the ball to long-on to depart for 51.

There was still time for more drama as Mark Adair looked to one-up Campher, taking the two of the final three wickets, with a run-out sandwiched in between, to reduce the Dutch to 106 all out and earn himself figures of three for nine.

Needing less than a run a ball, Ireland were gifted their first seven runs from extras by Fred Klaasen before powerful hitting from Kevin O’Brien and Stirling showed Ireland’s intent to wrap up the victory quickly.

O’Brien was caught by Logan van Beek going for a huge heave and a similar end befell captain Andrew Balbirnie who attempted to smash a third four in a row, but his shot was instead snaffled by Van der Merwe.

Gareth Delany joined Stirling out in the middle as a more cautious approach was taken in chasing down the total, bringing up Ireland’s half-century in eight overs.

The pair brought up their 50 partnership in the 12th over, Delaney doing much of the heavy lifting as Ireland looked to score at a decent pace, having missed out on the knockout stages in 2014 due to a low net run rate.

Delany would be dismissed by Pieter Seelaar for 44 with Campher then on hand to steer Ireland home, a victory entirely of his own making.

Scores in brief:

Ireland beat Netherlands at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi by seven wickets.

Netherlands 106 all out, in 20 overs (Max O’Dowd 51, Pieter Seelaar 21; Curtis Campher 4/26, Mark Adair 3/9)

Ireland 107/3, in 15.1 overs (Gareth Delaney 44, Paul Stirling 30; Pieter Seelaar 1-14; Fred Klaasen 1-18)

Player of the Match: Curtis Campher (Ireland)

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com

Dubai, October 18, 2021 (PPI-OT):Sri Lanka entered the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 with spinner Wanindu Hasaranga sitting second in the MRF Tyres Men’s T20I Bowling Rankings, yet it was their seamers who stole the show in the opening victory over Namibia.

Sri Lankan success often comes on the back of great slower bowling – think of Muttiah Muralidaran and Ajantha Mendis befuddling the opposition ­ and Hasaranga is very much of that mould.

He gave a taste of his capabilities at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium as he removed the two top-scoring Namibians, Craig Williams (29) and Gerhard Erasmus (20), during an impressive spell of 2/24, while 21-year-old mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana also shone with three for 25.

Yet it was the performance of the pace attack that will have fans of the Lions roaring their approval, as the unit bowled aggressively and dominated the opposition batting line-up.

A return of 4/45 from 11.3 overs for seam trio Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara, at an economy rate of less than four and with the concession of just a single boundary, is remarkable and speaks to just how much they restricted Namibia.

Karunaratne set the tone from the very first ball as he beat the outside edge of Stephan Baard’s bat and all three bowlers varied their lines and lengths to great effect.

The Namibian top order found themselves peppered with short balls they were unable to deal with. Zane Green was twice hit on the helmet by Chameera, with plenty of other deliveries rearing up into the batters’ ribs as Sri Lanka proved that even in the shortest format of the game, speed can be devastating.

By the end of seven overs, they’d sent down 15 deliveries of over 140kph ­ as many as the six other teams to have played at this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup so far had managed combined.

Namibia’s batters looked continually rushed in their strokes and were unable to score consistently, even when the Lions bowlers went to a more conventional line and length probing outside off stump, but Karunaratne insisted there was no great secret to the seam success.

“From first over, we bowled really well,” explained the opening bowler after restricting Namibia to just 96 from 19.3 overs. “It was just doing the basics.

“Last week, the coaching staff told me I was bowling the first over and they just said do the basics well, the normal out-swing and that’s it.

“There’s a little bit of pace in the wickets because of the dew, which gives some support for the fast bowlers, so they were looking really good. Keeping a team to less than 100 is a good total.”

It’s unlikely that Sri Lanka will be able to restrict every opponent they play to double figures but if their seamers can continue to complement the spin wizardry of Hasaranga and Theekshana, then they may just find themselves with one of the most potent bowling attacks in the entire tournament.

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com

Dubai, October 18, 2021 (PPI-OT):Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan and Curtis Campher, T20 legends past, present and future?

Until today, Ireland’s Campher had probably not heard his name spoken alongside two greats of the game but now he joins them, the only three men to have taken four wickets in four balls in a T20I.

The fact that Campher did so against the Netherlands in the opening game of Group A in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is as much of a surprise to the 22-year-old as anyone.

He admitted after his heroics that he hadn’t been feeling great prior to his second spell-binding over after he had gone for 12 from his first six balls.

His second spell started with a wide and then a dot but nothing could have prepared the Dutch for what was to come.

Colin Ackermann was Campher’s first victim, but Ireland had to wait to confirm it, Ackermann given out on a review with the replays showing he had gloved it behind to Neil Rock.

Dutch legend Ryan ten Doeschate was next to get out, dismissed leg before wicket with the Netherlands on 51 for four and Campher on a hat-trick.

He would duly get that, again delayed by a review, as Scott Edwards was shown to be out lbw. In three balls, Campher had doubled his tally of T20I wickets and he wasn’t done yet.

Looking to show attacking intent, Roelof van der Merwe instead dragged the ball back onto his stumps as Campher wheeled away in joyous celebration, no review was needed to confirm what had just happened.

The Johannesburg-born medium-fast bowler had just written his name into the history books and derailed the Netherlands’ World Cup campaign.

He would finish the over conceding one run to captain Pieter Seelaar to have four wickets from 14 runs and conceded 12 more in his third and fourth overs as the five-fer eluded him but career-best figures of four for 26 were firmly in his grasp.

Campher had only ever played four T20Is before, and even went wicketless against Zimbabwe and twice against the UAE. But in between them, there may have been a sign of what to come.

In the first match of Ireland’s series against the UAE earlier this month, he took three for 19 in another player of the match performance.

And he took three UAE wickets in a row, the first and second coming in the same maiden over however he would have to wait 11 balls for the third.

Despite Campher’s underwhelming first over against the Netherlands, he explained he was given free reins by captain Andrew Balbirnie, who encouraged him to ‘crack the game open’. It is fair to say he did so.

Another name Campher will forever be placed alongside is Brett Lee, as Campher is now only the second man to take a hat-trick in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with the Australian doing so in the inaugural competition in 2007.

His incredible performance helped Ireland to a seven-wicket victory over the Dutch and puts them in a strong position to reach the knockout stages for the first time since 2009.

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com

Dubai, October 18, 2021 (PPI-OT):Bhanuka Rajapaksa believes the impressive work of Sri Lanka’s front-line bowlers made life easy for their batters in the convincing opening win over Namibia but still wants to see improvements from the team.

Bowling first in Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka’s trio of seamers brilliantly restricted Namibia – conceding just 45 runs from their 11.3 overs and taking four wickets, to complement the combined five-wicket haul of spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana.

It meant the Eagles were all out for just 96 and that a subsequent top-order wobble from Sri Lanka went unpunished, as they turned the potentially precarious position of 26/3 into a seven-wicket victory with 39 balls remaining.

Rajapaksa’s 42 not out and Avishka Fernando’s unbeaten 30 for a fourth-wicket stand of 74 saw them comfortably home but despite getting their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 campaign off to a winning start, Rajapaksa is targeting a more complete display against Ireland on Wednesday.

“It’s always a learning curve for any team and any individual,” he said. “We can’t be happy with all of the performance because there are many parts we need to improve.

“But we can be happy about the performance of the front-line bowlers because they set the tone for us and it made it much easier for us batters.

“We’ve been struggling in the powerplay to get runs and not lose wickets, so there’s a bit of a concern when it comes to the top-order batters ­ they are struggling to get runs and it is not in our favour at the minute.

“Going forward we are looking to correct the mistakes from past games. It was a bad day for the top order but we’ll take it in a positive way and going forward, we’ll do the right things.”

Opening batters Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera both fell cheaply, while No.3 Dinesh Chandimal was dismissed for five.

But the decision to bowl first paid dividends as the Namibia total was still low enough to comfortably hunt down despite the early struggles and Rajapaksa admits winning the toss was key.

“One of the reasons we wanted to bowl first is that we knew there would be some dew as the evening went on,” he added.

“The warm-up games we played in Oman, the dew factor was large and the bowlers couldn’t grip the ball when they were bowling second. We knew the conditions would be similar here in Abu Dhabi.

“Going forward, the toss will be important but we can’t always rely on it. We need to practice with a wet ball in the nets. It could be a challenge for us but the boys are ready for it.”

There were plenty of promising signs for Namibia, as Craig Williams and Gerhard Erasmus put on a partnership of 39 for the third wicket, albeit from 40 balls, and then their bowling attack caused the Sri Lanka top order some problems.

The 37-year-old Williams top scored with 29 but as they prepare for a crunch clash with Netherlands on Wednesday, he knows they must up their game to leave with a victory that would keep their hopes of qualifying for the Super 12s alive.

“It’s quite disappointing because we’ve trained for the last two years and we knew what was coming,” he said of the defeat. “On the night, our execution was quite poor.

“The Sri Lankan bowling attack is well-oiled. They didn’t give us much to hit – they got the right height on their bouncers and executed it really well.

“The batting unit needs to pull up its socks and get something better on the board for the bowlers to defend.

“We still have high spirits though and we walked off the field with smiles on our faces. We knew Sri Lanka would be tough and we have to put this behind us as quickly as possible.

“We back ourselves against Ireland and the Netherlands and let’s see where those games take us.”

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com