England stun New Zealand to win first Test

May 26, 2015

London, May 26: England completed a remarkable win to beat New Zealand by 124 runs in the first Test at Lord`s on Monday.

New Zealand, set 345 to win on the fifth and final day, were dismissed for 220 as England won the 100th Test between the two countries to go 1-0 up in this two-match series ahead of the second Test at Headingley on Friday.

England stun

For England, without a permanent head coach following the sacking of Peter Moores and coming off the back of a disappointing 1-1 series draw in the West Indies, this was just the morale boost they needed.

New Zealand, who had earlier collapsed to 12 for three, were again in dire straits at 61 for five after man-of-the-match Ben Stokes had taken two wickets in two balls.

But the gritty BJ Watling, whose 59 was his second fifty of the match, and the dashing Corey Anderson (75), kept England at bay during a sixth-wicket stand of 107.

However, both batsmen fell in quick succession to leave New Zealand 174 for seven.

New Zealand were rocked from the outset of their second innings, losing both openers for ducks without a run on the board in a match where, for the most part, they had been on top.

The second ball saw Martin Guptill become James Anderson`s 399th Test wicket, caught in the slips by Gary Ballance.

New Zealand were still on nought when Stuart Broad`s first ball of the second over had Tom Latham lbw for a golden duck.

For New Zealand, it was all starting to become horribly reminiscent of their last Test at Lord`s, in 2013, when they slumped to 68 all out chasing 239.

The collapse continued when Broad, who took a Test-best seven for 44 against New Zealand at Lord`s two years ago, had Ross Taylor plumb lbw for eight.New Zealand took the score on to 61 before Stokes, who on Sunday scored the fastest Test century at Lord`s, off just 85 balls, struck twice in two balls.

Kane Williamson, who made 132 in the first innings, fell for 27 when he guided Stokes to Joe Root in the gully.

And next ball New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum played on to a Stokes inswinger.

Given a roar by the crowd worthy of Ian Botham or Andrew Flintoff, Stokes, the New Zealand-born son of former Kiwi rugby league international Ged Stokes, who came to England as a 12-year-old, charged in again.

But Corey Anderson survived the hat-trick delivery, allowing the ball to pass his stumps.

Anderson, in Stokes-like fashion, later pulled the Durham all-rounder for six.

Deciding attack was the best form of defence, Anderson completed a 44-ball fifty in which 46 of his runs -- 10 fours and a six -- came in boundaries.

Soon after tea, James Anderson nearly had his 400th Test wicket when Watling, on 40, was given out caught behind down the legside only for the batsman to overturn Indian umpire S Ravi`s decision on review.

But Watling had to go when he gloved debutant fast bowler Mark Wood through to wicket-keeper Jos Buttler.

England then saw the back of dangerman Corey Anderson, lbw to part-time off-spinner Root, with Ravi`s initial decision of `out` seeing the tightest of `umpire`s call` verdicts fall in their favour when the batsman reviewed.

New Zealand lost their next two wickets on 198 but, with the draw now their only realistic goal, last man Trent Boult somehow managed to get out playing an attacking upper-cut off Broad, with Moeen Ali taking a fine catch running back at third man.

Earlier, England were dismissed for 478 after resuming on 429 for six.

England captain Alastair Cook took his overnight 153 not out to 162.

His marathon innings came to an end when he was caught behind off Boult.

Cook batted for more than nine hours, facing 345 balls including 17 fours.

His exit was the start of a Boult burst that saw the left-arm paceman take four wickets for nine runs in 17 balls for final innings figures of five for 85.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has said that wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and is one of the easiest guys to interact with.

Bravo was doing an Instagram live chat with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the all-rounder was asked to talk about his stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"I think a lot of credit for CSK's success has to be given to Dhoni and Fleming, obviously the owners, they trust both Fleming and Dhoni, so there is no outside interference when it comes to decision making, both are very big students of the game, players love MS and it's an environment and franchise that allows you to be you," Bravo told Mbangwa during the chat.

"MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and in our team. He was one of the easiest people to interact with, outside of the cricket field, he is like playing video games, his door is open at all times, whenever you talk about the biggest superstar and then you think a person like Dhoni is the most humble of them all. CSK is a special team and we have the most loyal fans," he added.

Bravo has been with the CSK since 2011. He has played a total of 104 matches for the franchise, picking up 121 wickets.

The all-rounder has also managed to win the Purple Cap (most wickets in IPL) two times (2013 and 2015).

CSK has won the IPL thrice (2010, 2011 and 2018) and all the titles have come under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the high-profile game.

This year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

The board had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He would have been leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29.

However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: The BCCI has decided to implement strict cost cutting measures with the notable decision being IPL 2020 champions' prize money will be halved as compared to 2019. In a circular sent to all IPL franchises, the BCCI has notified that instead of a whopping Rs 20 crore, the IPL champion team will now receive Rs 10 crore only. "The financial rewards have been reworked as a part of the cost cutting measures. The champions will get Rs 10 crore instead of Rs 20 crore. The runners-up will get Rs 6.25 crore from earlier Rs 12.5 crore," a BCCI notification, in possession of news agency, read.

The two losing qualifiers will now get Rs 4.375 crore each.

"The franchises are all in good health. They also have multiple ways like sponsorships to bolster their income. Hence the decision on prize money taken," a senior BCCI source said.

However, a state association hosting IPL games will get Rs 1 crore each with franchises and BCCI contributing Rs 50 lakh each.

It has also been learnt that mid-level BCCI employees won't be allowed to avail business class flights like earlier times for flying to the Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE) where the flying time is less than eight hours.

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