County Championship Group Three

Sussex bowled Yorkshire out for 150 on day one of their County Championship match before reaching 118-3 in reply.

George Garton took three wickets - including England captain Joe Root who was pinned leg before for five - as the visitors' innings lasted just 51 overs. In reply at Hove, Sussex opener Tom Haines finished unbeaten on 71, making his third half-century of the season. Yorkshire paceman Duanne Olivier took two late wickets, with Sussex closing 32 runs behind. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Yorkshire looked well set for a big first-innings score at 60-0. But the introduction of Garton was an inspired change as he picked up the key wickets of Adam Lyth (42), Root, and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (17), and then held a fine slip catch to dismiss Gary Ballance (18) in the morning session.

Yorkshire's tail was quickly swept up after lunch before Haines starred with the bat for Sussex. The White Rose county rallied with the ball late on though as Aaron Thomason, Stiaan van Zyl and night watchman Henry Crocombe all fell cheaply for the home side. 'We're very happy. It was a good all-round performance from the bowlers and then our batsmen applied themselves really well. "It's a good wicket. If you get it wrong batsmen can score freely, but it spun, which is unusual for April, but perhaps not so surprising given the weather we've had. "I knew I had to hit my straps straight away and getting Adam Lyth, who is in such good form, got the ball rolling. It was nice to get Joe Root out, everyone wants his wicket. "Someone mentioned I'd got Alastair Cook out last season as well so that's not a bad habit to have, to get good players out."

"We were poor if we're being honest. With the calibre of batters we have in that line up, we haven't done ourselves justice. That's an understatement. "The challenge is we have to bowl well and win three sessions to get back in the game. Simple as that. "It's disappointing because, after last week, you're looking for progression and consistency. So to bat like we did against a young, inexperienced Sussex side, is disappointing. "I don't know what we put that down to. The preparation has been good. We didn't feel like they weren't switched on or up it. We had a good team meeting, but we gave our wickets away."

And Other Scotland men's head coach Shane Burger says it is vital this year's T20 World Cup goes ahead "for world cricket's sake". The event, which the Scots have qualified for, was scheduled to be held in Australia last year before being postponed because of Covid-19. It has been moved to October, but new host India is now on the UK's travel 'red list' amid a surge in cases. Burger is "very concerned" but hopes another postponement can be avoided. "It is very scary to see the numbers that are currently being shown in India," the South African said.

"What gives me hope is that the Indian Premier League is carrying on and maybe there could be other options they look at. "But the key to all of this is that it is important the tournament goes ahead, not only for our sake, but also for world cricket's sake. "I think that has to happen. How that is done, guys of a higher pay grade than me have to make those decisions. We are preparing right now as if it is going ahead." It has been announced that Burger's side will play two one-day internationals against Netherlands in Rotterdam in May. Those matches will be their first since facing United Arab Emirates in December 2019. "I think to myself, 'that is crazy, how bizarre is that?' But if I take the positives out of that I think it presents opportunity," Burger added. "What this might do in the summer is bring more people to the game of cricket, get them playing. "It is going to bring us opportunities to play more against full member nations, because everybody is crying out and craving cricket at the moment."

IPL 2021

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) continued their winning run with an emphatic victory over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 16 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Devdutt Padikkal slammed his first IPL hundred while skipper Virat Kohli scored a remarkable 72* as RCB dominated in the truest form, chasing the target of 177 with 21 balls to spare and ten wickets in hand against RR. Chasing a total of 178, RCB openers - Kohli and Padikkal – got off to a solid start.

Kohli smacked a six down the ground to get off the mark after RR opened the bowling with Shreyas Gopal. The leg-spinner was then hit for two fours by Padikkal and conceded ten runs after he was back to bowl the third over.

The RCB duo also put Chris Morris under pressure and scored 15 off the fourth over. Padikkal started the over with two fours and Kohli ended the over in style, producing the same result.  Padikkal capitalised further and it was Mustafizur Rahman,  who was at the receiving end, conceding 10 runs. The left-handed opener finished the powerplay in style with a maximum as RCB raced off to 59/0 at the end of six overs. RCB smashed 48 runs in the next four overs and it was Padikkal, who owned the explosion for RCB in the middle overs. He slammed his fifty in style with a boundary off Riyan Parag and then hit the spinner for a maximum straight over the head to end the over. The very next over saw Padikkal smash consecutive sixes off Rahul Tewatia’s bowling followed by yet another maximum off the left-handers bat in the 10th over as the hundred partnership was up for the opening wicket. Kohli took charge of the hitting after the ten-over mark and was dealing in boundaries, which also included a lofted six over long-off off the bowling of Morris. Not only did Kohli notch-up his first half-century of the season, he also became the first batsman to score 6000 runs in IPL.

The RCB skipper then hammered Shreyas Gopal for two fours and a six as the Royal Challengers were closing in to the total without losing any wickets. With just eight runs required off the final four overs, Padikkal ended the chase in style with a top-class century that proved to be the icing on the cake for RCB as they chased down the total, without losing any wicket. Earlier, RR, who were put in to bat, made one change – Shreyas Gopal replaced Jaydev Unadkat in the playing XI. Jos Buttler struck two fours towards the leg side in the very first over off Mohammed Siraj. Manan Vohra opened his account with a four against Kyle Jamieson at the other end after the right-arm pacer troubled the opener with bounce. However, Siraj found an early breakthrough after he disturbed the timber to dismiss Buttler.

RR then lost the wickets of Manan Vohra and David Miller in the next two overs and were in early trouble. Vohra lofted the ball in the air but didn’t find the required distance to clear mid-on as Jamieson found his first wicket. Siraj then scalped his second wicket with a toe-crushing yorker that surprised Miller after the left-hander was trapped in front and RR were 32/3 at the end of 6 overs.

RR skipper Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube were the two new batsmen in the middle. Samson smacked Sundar for a maximum after RR were struggling with the scoring rate. However, the right-hander fell to a soft dismissal and was caught by Maxwell inside the circle in the same over. The breakthrough didn’t affect Dube’s approach as the left-hander scored 19 off the Chahal over that included two huge sixes and a four. Dube then attacked Kane Richardson, creaming two fours off the right-arm pacer and RR were back on the track with 81/4 after 11 overs.  

The next over went for 15 runs as Harshal Patel conceded 3 fours in his first over of the innings and Riyan Parag was playing a good hand, supporting the well-settled Dube. The Dube-Riyan Parag pair completed a fifty-run partnership. But the right-hander tried scooping Harshal Patel, only to find an edge that carried to Chahal at third-man. Rahul Tewatia came to the crease with an aggressive mindset and was off the mark with a maximum over the fine-leg fielder. The left-hander added two more fours to the total and RR were in a strong position approaching towards the business end of the innings.

RCB however got the timely wicket of Dube after Maxwell took a brilliant catch in the outfield to dismiss the left-hander, who fell four short of his fifty.  RR reached to the 150-run mark in the 18th over with Chris Morris and a well settled Tewatia at the crease. Morris hit his first six, courtesy a full toss from Jamieson.     

Tewatia was striking it clean as he smashed Siraj for a four and six each before the right-arm pacer got the better of the left-hander and ended his fine knock of 40(23). Patel added two more wickets to his tally after he got rid of Morris and Chetan Sakariya in two deliveries. A six at the end from Shreyas Gopal helped RR post 177-9 on the board.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 181/0 (Devdutt Padikkal 101*, Virat Kohli 72*) beat Rajasthan Royals 177/9 (Shivam Dube 46, Rahul Tewatia 40; Mohammed Siraj 3/27) by 10 wickets.