Cricket news round-up – November 9: Australia clinch series, England draw level

Dawid Malan and Eoin Morgan pulverised the New Zealand bowlers to help England level the 5-match T20I series; Australia thrashed Pakistan by 10 wickets to win the series 2-0; Karnataka set a new Indian record in T20 cricket; and Prithvi Shaw is set to make a comeback the day after his ban ends.

Malan, Morgan flatten New Zealand

England thrashed New Zealand by 76 runs at McLean Park, Napier. The 5-match series is now levelled 2-2.

Asked to bat, England got off to a flying start thanks to Tom Banton (31 in 20 balls). Dawid Malan (103* in 51) and Eoin Morgan (91 in 41) then added 182 in 74 balls (England’s highest partnership for any wicket) to help England soar to 241/3, the highest T20I score in their history. The last 4 overs of the innings yielded 76. Morgan’s 21-ball fifty was the fastest for England. Amidst all this, Mitchell Santner returned 4-0-32-2.

Martin Guptill (27 in 14) and Colin Munro (30 in 21) added 54 in 27 balls, but the rest collapsed against Matt Parkinson (4-0-47-4) and Chris Jordan (2.5-0-24-2). The only resistance came from Tim Southee (39 in 15).

Australia cruise to series win

Australia trounced Pakistan by 10 wickets at Perth Stadium to claim the T20I series 2-0. Mitchell Starc took out 2 wickets (including Babar Azam) in the third over after Australia opted to bowl. They never recovered from there, finishing on 109/8.

Iftikhar Ahmed (45 in 37 balls) and Imam-ul-Haq (14 in 15) were the only ones to reach double figures as Kane Richardson had 4-0-18-3 and Sean Abbott 4-0-14-2.

David Warner (48* in 35) and Aaron Finch (52* in 36) then took Australia home in the 12th over.

Karnataka set Indian record

Karnataka won their 15th T20 match on the trot, setting a new record for Indian teams. They went past Kolkata Knight Riders’ record of 14. In fact, Karnataka are now joint second in the world, at par with Otago’s 15, though Sialkot Stallions are some distance ahead, with 25.

At Visakhapatnam, Abhimanyu Mithun (4-0-20-2) and Shreyas Gopal (3-0-20-2) helped Karnataka restrict Uttarakhand to 132/6. Rohan Kadam (67* in 55 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (53* in 33) then finished the match in the 16th over: Karnataka won by 9 wickets.

Shaw set to return

Prithvi Shaw, who had been serving a suspended ban for a year for banned drugs usage, will be cleared to return to competitive cricket on November 15. He is likely to feature in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, starting with Mumbai’s match against Assam, on November 17.

Shaw had tested positive for terbutaline, a component he had consumed inadvertently as part of cough syrup, during the previous edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in March.