Cricket news round-up – October 4: India men, women dominate South Africa

After declaring on 502/7, India took out three quick South African wickets before stumps on Day 2; India Women clinched the T20I series against South Africa Women; Shoaib Malik’s brilliance helped Guyana Amazon Warriors crush Jamaica Tallawahs; and the initial draft for The Hundred was unveiled.

Ashwin, Jadeja strike after Mayank double ton

R Ashwin (2/9) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/21) reduced South Africa to 39/3 by stumps on Day Two at Visakhapatnam. Ashwin spun one dangerously to bowl Aiden Markram through the gate and had Theunis de Bruyn caught behind, while Dane Piedt was bowled with a fast, straight ball from Jadeja.

Earlier, Mayank Agarwal got his first Test hundred – and stretched that to 215, pushing Rohit Sharma’s 176 to the background. The middle order put up cameos before Virat Kohli declared on 502/7. Keshav Maharaj returned 3/189.

India Women seal series

India Women took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 6-match series after 2 matches were abandoned. While six South Africans reached double figures, none of them went past 17. The tourists were restricted to 98/8 by, among others, Radha Yadav (4-0-23-3) and Shikha Pandey (4-0-19-2).

Led by Shabnim Ismail (4-0-19-2), South Africa then reduced India to 29/3 before Harmanpreet Kaur (34* in 32 balls) saw them to a 5-wicket win in the 18th over. In the process, Kaur became the second Indian and eighth overall to reach 2,000 T20I runs.

Captain Malik extends Guyana’s unbeaten run

Guyana Amazon Warriors made it 9 wins in 9 matches with a 77-run win against last-placed Jamaica Tallawahs. The Tallawahs started well, with Chris Green (3-1-23-2) and Oshane Thomas (4-0-40-2) reducing Guyana to 8/4. Then Shoaib Malik (73* in 45) and Sherfane Rutherford (45 in 43) lifted them to 156/6.

The Tallawahs were never in the hunt. They crawled to 64/3 in the 13th over before losing 7 for 15 in 25 balls to get bowled out for 79. Imran Tahir had 4-0-12-3, Qais Ahmed 4-0-20-2, and Keemo Paul 1-0-2-2.

The Hundred is here: almost

A total of 165 cricketers have enlisted themselves for the drafts of The Hundred, starting next year, as reported by ESPNCricinfo. The Indians, largely missing, were represented only by Harbhajan Singh. Another missing name has been of AB de Villiers. The two highest brackets include:

£125,000: Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga.

£100,000: Shane Watson, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Lynn, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Trent Boult, Kane Williamson, Harbhajan Singh, Shahid Afridi, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane.