Weekly CRICKET Review - LXX | SA losing another

Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,

You already know I am sharing a weekly wrap-up of what is happening within the Cricket community. It's the 70th edition now. The game has become busy and exciting in the last week with several interesting tournaments. So, let's see what's happening!!

Using Canva & Getty Images

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New Zealand tour of Sri Lanka, 2024

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• Sri Lanka could whitewash Kiwis 2-0 showing sheer dominance in the series. It's a series win after 15 years against them, and the win is rather important for us in the race for the WTC final.

• After a comfortable win in the first match, Sri Lanka came back even stronger. SL captain Dhananjaya won the toss and started the batting. The batters carried the innings for almost 2 days, 163 overs, and put a mammoth total of 602/5.

Kamindu Mendis once again became the hit scoring 182* runs. He rewrote the record books by completing 1,000 Test runs in just 13 innings, equaling Sir Don Bradman as the third quickest to do so. Apart from him Chandimal and Kusal Mendis strengthen the innings with centuries.

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• But the Kiwis had no answer for the Sri Lankan spinners when they started the batting. They lost 2 wickets in the last few overs on day 02 and the other 08 before the Day 03 lunch. Only 03 Kiwi players got double figures in their total 88 runs. Prabhath Jayasuriya took 06 wickets and the debutant Nishan Peiris took 03 wickets.

They started the following being 514 runs behind. It was never easy practically and mentally, and ended up scoring just 360 runs resulting in a win for SL by an innings and 154 runs. Prabhath took 03 wickets and Nishan took 06 here. Kamindu Mendis and Jayasuriya won the Player of the Match and Series awards respectively.

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Ireland v South Africa in UAE, 2024

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• After an embarrassing defeat against Afghanistan Proteas continue their tour in UAE against Ireland for a 02 T20I and 03 ODI. The T20I series became more interesting than expected with a 1-1 tie.

• In the first match Ireland started the batting and with a collective effort, they put a total of 171/8. They could do even better, but Patrick Kruger from SA destroyed the innings in the latter part of the game.

In the chase, Ryan Rickelton and Reeza Hendricks almost sealed the match for SA with a 136-run partnership for the first wicket. So, it was easy from there for others resulting in an 8-wicket win for them with 14 balls remaining. It was the highest successful run-chase at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

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• And in the second match Ireland gave an even better target. They scored 195/6 after the 20 overs. It was basically from the openers Stirling and Ross Adair who scored a fifty and a century respectively.

SA top 03 Ryan Rickelton, Reeza Hendricks, and Matthew Breetzke put the foundation very well, and most of the time, in the chase they were on top. In the last 03 overs, they just needed 28 runs with 06 wickets in hand. Anyway, Mark Adair and Hume showed an excellent display of death balling. Particularly Hume got 03 wickets for just 05 runs in the penultimate over. Finally, Ireland won by 10 runs, sealing their first T20I win over South Africa.

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Australia tour of England, 2024

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• It's a 5-ODI and 3-T20I series between the two teams. The T20I series was concluded as 1-1 with the third match being washed away.

• After losing the first two ODI matches, England came up strongly winning the next two. Especially captain Harry Brook led from the front throughout the series.

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• The third match was a pretty much rain-affected one. Anyway, batting was not difficult at Riverside Ground, as Aussie put a total of 304/7. Smith and Carey put the fifties and a cameo from Hardie at the end did well for Aussie. Eventhough England lost the first two wickets quickly Will Jacks and Harry Brook added 156 runs for the 3rd wicket. Will fall for 84 and Brook continued with a century. They were in a fiery mood with the rain and, when the rain stopped the play England was 254/4 in 37.4 overs. England won by 46 runs by DLS method.

This ends the 14- winning streak for Aussie in ODI.

• With the interruption from rain the fourth one was a 39-overs match. England was in a beast mood and they scored 312/5 in their inning. Duckket and Brook scored fifties, and Livingstone scored 62 off 27 balls with 7 huge sixes. He hammered Starc for 28 runs in the final over (6 0 6 6 6 4). Even after a good start in powerplay, 66-0 in 08 overs, Australia ended up in just 126 runs. It's the second-lowest ODI total at Lord's.

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• In the series decider, England once again batted first and once again scored 300+ runs of 309 runs. is the second-lowest ODI total at Lord's scored a century and once again a half-century from Brook. Surprisingly Head took 4 wickets.

Short and Head started batting aggressively, and when the rain started they were 165/2 in 20.4 overs. Australia won by 49 runs (DLS method) and won the series. Head won the Man of the Series award as well.

Until the next time! Enjoy!

Thank you.
Best Regards!