Cricket news round-up – 6 April 2019: Joseph creates IPL history; Chennai, Mumbai win

Alzarri Joseph ripped through the Sunrisers Hyderabad lineup to register the best figures in IPL history. Mumbai Indians won the match, as did Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab.

And in England, the first round of the County Championship reached its second day, while Haseeb Hameed showed glimpses of return to form.

Record for Alzarri

On his IPL debut, for Mumbai against Hyderabad at Uppal, Alzarri Joseph returned figures of 3.4-1-12-6 – the best figures in IPL history.

Sohail Tanvir held the previous record (6/14), for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai at Jaipur, way back in 2008. Adam Zampa (6/19 for Rising Pune Supergiants against Hyderabad at Visakhapatnam in 2016) is the only other bowler to take 6 wickets in an IPL innings.

Mumbai strangle Hyderabad

Asked to bat at Uppal, Mumbai reached 136/7, powered by Kieron Pollard’s unbeaten 26-ball 46. Pollard’s onslaught, one that helped Mumbai add 39 in the last 2 overs, turned out to be a decisive factor. Mohammad Nabi had figures of 4-0-13-1.

David Warner and Jonny Bairstow – the two leading run-scorers in this season – added 33 in 22 balls. Then both fell in the space of 3 balls, and despite the two mini-recoveries (to 61/3, then 88/5), Hyderabad were bowled out for 96 as Joseph took 6/12.

Punjab lose track of chase

R Ashwin (4-0-23-3) and Murugan Ashwin (4-0-23-0) restricted Chennai to 160/3 (Faf du Plessis 54 in 38 balls), a total that looked surmountable. Punjab lost two quick wickets, but KL Rahul (55 in 47) and Sarfaraz Khan (67 in 59) took Punjab to 117/2.

Unfortunately, they did not realise that they had fallen into MS Dhoni’s trap. The Chennai spinners bowled steadily. They did not attack. They merely dried up the runs. And by the time the partnership was broken, Punjab were left to score 44 in 15 balls. They could get only 21 of these.

County Championship round-up

Sam Northeast’s 169 propelled Hampshire to 525/8 in County Championship Division One, in response to which Essex finished Day Two on 25/1.

Joe Clarke scored 112 in Nottinghamshire’s 408 as Duanne Olivier took 5/96 and Steven Patterson 4/78. Adam Lyth’s 81 has taken Yorkshire to 206/5.

And once play finally got underway at Taunton, Mitchell Claydon (5/46) bowled out Somerset for 171. Kent are 84/2 at stumps.

In Division Two, Derbyshire, bowled out for 197 on Day One, hit back to take a 26-run lead against Derbyshire. Luis Reece took 5/47. Derbyshire finished the day on 107/3, 33 ahead.

Northamptonshire, having put up 445 (Luke Procter 81*, Tim Murtagh 6/80), reduced Middlesex to 134/7 as Jason Holder followed his 40 with 2/27. And Sussex, having conceded a 79-run lead, finished the day on 211/2.

Double-hundred for Hameed

A teenaged Haseeb Hameed had made his Test debut in India in 2016-17. He scored 219 runs from 3 Tests at 44, but never played after that series. He subsequently lost form, and was dropped from the Lancashire side.

However, he opened the season with 218 against Loughborough MCCU. It may not turn out to be significant, but with England still frantically searching for both openers, the selectors may be following Hameed’s progress with some interest.