Cricket news roundup – 11th March 2019: Australia, Ireland, England, South Africa win, New Zealand take control

On a day that witnessed five international matches, Australia and Ireland drew level by beating India at Mohali and Afghanistan at Dehradun respectively; England completed their whitewash over West Indies with a resounding win at Basseterre; South Africa took an unassailable 3-0 lead by defeating Sri Lanka at Durban.

In the fifth, New Zealand took firm control of the Wellington Test against Bangladesh. Elsewhere, Karachi Kings qualified for the Playoffs of PSL 2019 with a 1-run win against Quetta Gladiators.

Turner turns things around

Despite losing the third ODI, India were favourites coming into the fourth. They were boosted by a 193-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma (95 in 92 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (143 in 115), both of whom were going through rough patches.

The Australians did well to come back to restrict India to 358/9, about 20 short of what they looked like scoring at one point. Pat Cummins took 5/70.

India reduced Australia to 12/2, but Usman Khawaja (91 in 99) and Peter Handscomb (117 in 105) turned things around with a 192-run stand. Then Ashton Turner’s stunning onslaught (84* in 43) saw Australia home with 13 balls to spare.

Ireland level series

A five-wicket win at Dehradun helped Ireland draw the series against Afghanistan 2-2 after they were behind, first 0-1, then 1-2.

The Irish bowlers did an excellent job to restrict Afghanistan to 216/6. Afghanistan were 50/4 at one point before Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi (40) added 76. Afghan batted almost till the end till he had to retire on 82 with a pulled hamstring. Rashid Khan remained unbeaten on 35.

Paul Stirling (70) and Andy Balbirnie (68) then added 81 after Ireland lost William Porterfield early, while Kevin O’Brien (33*) made sure there was no hiccup. They won with 16 balls to spare.

West Indies surrender again

Two days after being bowled out for 45, West Indies did marginally better by scoring 71 at the same ground, in Basseterre. Three batsmen scored 11 apiece, which that was all resistance they could offer. They lasted 13 overs against David Willey (4/7) and Mark Wood (3/9).

England duly completed the whitewash with an 8-wicket win with 57 balls to spare.

South Africa, rain thwart Sri Lanka

South Africa took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 5-ODI series against Sri Lanka with a 71-run win at Kingsmead, Durban. Quinton de Kock (121 in 108 balls) led the charge as South Africa put up 331/5. Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, and Andile Phehlukwayo all contributed with cameos.

Despite the initial blows, Sri Lanka reached 75/2 in 16 overs when rain stopped play. When play resumed their revised target read 193 in 24 overs – in other words, they had to score 118 in 48 balls to win the match. They got only 46 of these.

Taylor stiches a double

New Zealand were firmly in control of the second Test of the series against Bangladesh, at Basin Reserve, Wellington, despite having lost the first two days to rain.

New Zealand started the day on 38/2 after bowling out Bangladesh for 211. Ross Taylor (200) made up for two days’ worth of lost time, with support from Kane Williamson (74) and Henry Nicholls (107). New Zealand declared on 432/6, 221 ahead.

Batting for a second time, Bangladesh were 54/3 at the time of writing.

Kings in PSL Playoffs

Karachi Kings beat Quetta Gladiators by 1 run to seal a berth in the PSL Playoffs. This means that the Playoffs will feature the same four teams as in every other edition of the tournament – Gladiators, Kings, Peshawar Zalmi, and Islamabad United.

Babar Azam (56 in 46 balls), Colin Ingram (24 in 10), and Iftikhar Ahmed (44* in 18) led the charge as Kings raced to 190/5. Thanks to Ahmed Shehzad’s 57 ball 99, Gladiators were firm favourites going into the last over, off which they needed only 5.

Anwar Ali ran a single, but Usman Shinwari had Shehzad caught at cover and Anwar caught behind off the next two balls. After Mohammad Nawaz ran a single, Shinwari clean bowled Sarfaraz Ahmed. And Sohail Tanvir could manage only a leg-bye off the last ball.