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Michael Klinger stayed put when Sussex’s debutant Christian Davies thought he had caught him on 29. The umpires ruled in his favour. He went on to an unbeaten century

Will Macpherson13-Aug-2016
ScorecardMichael Klinger chose not to walk – and finished with an unbeaten century•Getty Images

When Michael Klinger punched Steve Magoffin to backward point, and the Sussex debutant Christian Davis dived forward, appearing to take a very fine low catch, he had 29. But as the fielders celebrated a wicket that would have left Gloucestershire reeling at 92 for five, Klinger was not for moving. He chose to leave the umpires to decide if the ball had carried and, after a lengthy conference, they decided he should stay. Sussex’s fielders initially appeared dumbfounded, but their lips loosened just in time for the exchange of some terse words.Klinger, almost inevitably, was still there at the close with a century to his name, with his team in the ascendancy after a disastrous start on a pitch he had elected to bat first on. On fine margins do such games turn.Sussex were within their rights to grumble (just as Klinger had been within his to stand his ground), but by day’s end they had let their outstanding start go to waste. Steve Magoffin, trotting in from the Sea End, had looked the force of old, picking up the Gloucestershire top three in his first six overs, and Jofra Archer had forced Hamish Marshall to edge to Chris Jordan, who took a fine catch at slip; Gloucestershire were ruinously placed at 34 for four.Magoffin took upwards of 28% of Sussex’s wickets during his first four years at the club, but his influence – on pitches often unkind to his art – has appeared to slightly wane this season, even if he still went into this game with his 25 wickets coming at 29. He was immediately into his work here, however, with his line, length and lots of lift making life uncomfortable for Gloucestershire. Will Tavare was bowled playing across the line, while Graeme van Buuren and Chris Dent pushed and were caught behind; the ball after the latter fell, Danny Briggs parried a very hard chance from Marshall in the gully. Never mind, Archer’s pace did for him shortly after.But then came some vintage Klinger fare; his driving was perfectly precise and his judgment outside off stump perfect, while he was always alive to the possibility of a single. On a day when the outside edge was beaten plenty, it is hard to recall the beaten blade being his. His contentious reprieve was his sole false stroke. He never really needed to put his foot down, but late in the day there was a nonchalant flick for six over midwicket and his cuts had more purpose too.”Given the position he went in on,” reflected his coach, Richard Dawson, “it was a massive achievement to be there at the end. He just took it ball by ball. He’s a soldier, he just carries on going. He’s a consistent person, the way he trains, he’s very honest, he wants to succeed and is hungry and wants to make big runs. If he gets low scores, he doesn’t let it get him down. It’s very simple – he knows his strengths and he sticks to them, and the bottom line is that he’s a quality bloke.”Klinger anchored three vital stands. First, 133 with Phil Mustard, playing his first innings of note for Gloucestershire, a typically roistering affair full of punchy cuts and beautiful off-drives, before he was bowled trying to slog Briggs. Then there was 62 with Jack Taylor, who never fully settled as he looked to open up the offside and, after Taylor and Benny Howell fell in quick succession, an unbeaten 109 with Craig Miles, who had an aggressive half-century by the close of play.It was during the stand with Miles that Sussex seemed to rather drop their bundle. Twice, four overthrows whistled away to the fence and, on a pitch where the new ball is key (as evidenced by Magoffin first thing), their performance with the second one was profligate. As the seamers inexplicably dug the ball in, Ben Brown had to be at his most athletic behind the stumps, and still 18 byes slipped through. Miles, to his credit, batted like a man auditioning for a promotion, accumulating adroitly then feasting on Sussex’s flagging seamers late on.”It was a niggly day, and one of the most difficult to watch this season,” said Sussex’s coach Mark Davis, “because we were in a good position and it didn’t quite go our way on occasions too. We weren’t good enough to make our own luck. The new ball is key on this pitch because the ball is getting soft quickly and when it does get soft it gets harder to get people out. We didn’t bowl well enough with it.”On Klinger’s reprieve, Davis veered on the side of diplomacy. “The umpires are there to make a decision, they made that decision and we have to move on,” he said. “It’s done, it’s massively frustrating – I thought it just went straight to backward point and the umpires conferred and that was that. It’s game-changing, and certainly day-changing. It is what it is, that happens in sport, and we’ve got to move on.”He was right, the umpires had made a game-changing decision. But he also knew that going into day two, his side had plenty to bemoan besides Klinger’s prosperous pardon.

Anand Vasu says Wasim Jaffer hardly played a false shot during his unbeaten 192 on the first day of the Kolkata Test

Anand Vasu in Kolkata30-Nov-2007

On January 28, 2003, Mumbai needed 127 to beat Himachal Pradesh in a Ranji Trophy match when Wasim Jaffer received news that his mother Zulekha had died. Jaffer was shattered and unsure of whether to play on the final day. Chandrakant Pandit, then coach of the Mumbai team who had suffered a similar fate, spoke to Jaffer of his experience to which Jaffer replied, “I’ll do it for my team”. He scored 47 off 51 balls as Mumbai won without losing a wicket. Only then did Jaffer leave to attend his mother’s funeral.Determination is one of Jaffer’s stronger suits and he prefers to make statements on the field rather than off it. Ask around for a tale of some sort from his past, and apart from descriptions of his long innings in domestic cricket, you draw a blank. Soon after scoring 192 on the first day of the Kolkata Test, Jaffer faced the media. When a journalist asked if he was distracted – or forced to concentrate harder – by the presence of his wife Ayesha in the stands, who was frequently on the giant screen, Jaffer only said, “I always know where my wife is,” displaying a sense of humour that isn’t always obvious.What is obvious, though, is Jaffer’s tremendous hunger to score. In Indian cricket, the role of an opening batsman is not to be envied. They don’t get too many chances, and once dumped, there isn’t a way back. Ask Sadagoppan Ramesh, Shiv Sunder Das, or even Aakash Chopra. But Jaffer has done it twice – he made his debut in the home series against South Africa in 2000-01 and was dumped, following which he was picked again for the 2001-02 tour of West Indies before being dropped once again.”I’ve gone through a lot of lean phases in my career,” Jaffer said. “I’ve been brought up like that. I’ve been dropped two or three times and gone back to Ranji Trophy, got big scores and come back. I’m used to scoring big. It’s just that I haven’t done that much in international cricket and I’ll try to do that from here on.”On the day, Jaffer faced 255 balls and was rarely beaten. Even Rahul Dravid was troubled early on, especially by Sohail Tanvir, but Jaffer hardly played a false stroke. He has always scored a high percentage of his runs in boundaries, looking exceptionally elegant when he strikes the ball through the leg side, and he hit 32 fours today.

“I don’t think I’ve batted so fluently so far in my Test career,” Jaffer conceded at the end of the day, but refused to compare this knock with his double-century against West Indies in Antigua. “All hundreds have been special. I’ve got only few so I’ll count all of them as special. Scoring 192 runs in a day is something I haven’t done before. It feels good that we’re in a strong position and I’ve got runs.”Jaffer has five centuries in 23 Tests but you can break his career up into two phases. In the seven Tests he played before his latest comeback, and the 16 he has played since. In Phase I, Jaffer made 261 runs at just over 20, scoring three fifties and no hundreds. Since returning to the team against England at Nagpur, Jaffer has been a different batsman. He’s not so hampered by that half stride forward, is being trapped half-cocked much less, and has been far more assured outside the off stump. And it’s shown in his numbers; an average of 41.89 with five hundreds, one of them a double.”I was conscious that I have got a few starts in the England series [earlier this year] and did not convert them into hundreds,” Jaffer said. “The same happened in the Ranji Trophy so I was a bit conscious and tried to be focused once I was past 60-70.”And focus he did, past 100 and then 150 and to the doorstep of 200 while VVS Laxman, the man who owns an epochal 281 at this ground, sat padded-up and watched. In a team of stroke-makers Jaffer barely gets mentioned, and more talk is centred round players who aren’t even in the Test side. Almost without anyone noticing, Jaffer has become the third highest run-getter in the world this year behind Jacques Kallis (1125) and Kevin Pietersen (881), with 718 to his name so far. Contrary to popular belief Jaffer isn’t bland or colourless, just quiet, and at the moment very valuable to this Indian team.

Western Australia allrounder Hilton Cartwright has been included in the Australia squad for the second Test against Pakistan at the MCG

Brydon Coverdale and Daniel Brettig20-Dec-20160:49

Quick Facts – Hilton Cartwright

Australia’s selectors have pushed still further towards youth, ignoring Mitchell Marsh in order to draft his Western Australia team-mate Hilton Cartwright into the Boxing Day Test squad as all-round cover for a bowling attack heavily fatigued by their Gabba exertions.Cartwright, who had already been included in the Chappell-Hadlee ODI squad to face New Zealand but did not play, is an allrounder whose virtues have been pushed by the interim selector Greg Chappell in particular, as part of the developmental Cricket Australia XI that first played in the Matador Cup two summers ago.Last season he graduated to the Western Australia state side and performed strongly with the bat in the Sheffield Shield, something he has backed up this season to average 44.50 across 16 first-class matches. His bowling record is less notable, with a career tally of 15 first-class wickets at 41.93 and only four wickets at 74.75 in the current Shield campaign.

Test squad

David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers

However, the acting selection chairman Trevor Hohns emphasised the desire for a batting allrounder to take a place in the top six, a role Marsh has been unable to adequately fill over time. The decision also means the incumbent No.6, Nic Maddinson, could face the axe after three Test innings of 0, 1 and 4 in Adelaide and Brisbane.”The bowlers got through a high workload in Brisbane and although everyone has pulled up okay, on reflection we wanted to give ourselves the option of including an allrounder in Melbourne to ease that workload somewhat,” Hohns said.”To do that, we wanted a batting allrounder, someone to bowl seam-up and capable of batting in the top six as well, and after considering several names we came to the conclusion that Hilton fits that bill. We have seen plenty of him, he has performed well this season and we believe that if called upon he will do an excellent job.”Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood each bowled 56 overs during the win over Pakistan at the Gabba, which for both men was their biggest workload not only in a Test match but in any first-class game. Jackson Bird sent down 45 overs, his highest tally in a Test. As such, the selection shift away from an allrounder, which took place when Marsh was dropped following the first Test of the summer, has been rethought.”It depends on what sort of wickets you play on,” Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, said after the win in Brisbane. “You would have probably liked to have an extra bowling option in this game but we went with the six batsmen, four bowlers and they got the job done, albeit a lot of work into our quicks.”Should Cartwright become Australia’s 450th Test cricketer when the XI is confirmed for Boxing Day, it would mean an uncertain Test future for Maddinson. On debut at Adelaide Oval, Maddinson was bowled for a 12-ball duck by Kagiso Rabada, while at the Gabba he was dropped on 0, then caught behind for 1 in the first innings. In the second, he was caught hooking for 4 as Australia sought quick runs and a declaration.”We’ve had two pink-ball Test matches, so red-ball Test coming up and we know he’s a fine player,” Lehmann said of Maddinson on Monday, before Cartwright was added to the squad. “He’s just got to believe at this level. I actually thought he did a really good team thing the other day [in the second innings].”I know there was some talk in the commentary and media that he probably could have gone up the order and done that, but Steve’s really strong on keeping the batting order very similar. So he came in for two balls, tried to get the game moving as quickly as he could. So I disregard the second innings of this one, and we’ve got some red-ball cricket coming up, so I’m sure he’ll do okay.”Another member of Australia’s new-look side who will be keen to justify the faith of the selectors is wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who replaced Peter Nevill ahead of the Adelaide Test. The selectors preferred Wade’s batting fight down the order and although he scored two Test centuries in his previous incarnation in the baggy green, he has not made double figures since his recall.Wade’s work behind the stumps has also left a little to be desired. In Adelaide, he failed to move for a chance when Hashim Amla edged Mitchell Starc and first slip Matt Renshaw ultimately spilled the chance with his left hand. At the Gabba, Wade missed a stumping chance off Nathan Lyon when Sarfraz Ahmed had 31 in the first innings; he went on to make 59 not out. He also appeared to miss a possible catch when Yasir Shah tickled down leg off Starc late in Pakistan’s chase.”Obviously his batting ability, although he hasn’t got any runs at the moment,” Lehmann said when asked what Wade brought to the squad. “He’s been working pretty hard with that. And his energy behind the stumps. He’d like to keep better obviously, but I thought he’s improved his keeping out of sight in the last 12 to 18 months from where we were.”Peter Nevill is obviously a very good keeper as well. It’s a tight call whichever way you go. But Matthew’s got the chance to nail down the spot and we’ll see how he goes in Melbourne.”

New Zealand’s three-Test series in India will begin on September 22, in Kanpur, followed by the second Test from September 30 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, while Indore will host the final Test

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-20160:58

India’s pink-ball Test will have to wait

New Zealand are unlikely to play a day-night Test against India this season with the BCCI announcing that all three Tests in September and October would begin at 9.30 am.Kanpur will host the first Test from September 22, followed by the second at Eden Gardens from September 30 and the third in Indore, a brand new Test venue, from October 8.The five ODIs will be played on October 16 in Dharamsala, October 19 in Delhi, October 23 in Mohali, October 26 in Ranchi and October 29 in Visakhapatnam.In April, BCCI president Anurag Thakur had announced India would host its first day-night Test during the New Zealand tour. A day later, NZC responded that nothing had been finalised. Last week, the chances of the series featuring a floodlit Test reduced further when Thakur himself conceded India were in “no hurry” to play one.New Zealand is the first of four teams – England, Australia and Bangladesh are the others – India are set to host in their 2016-17 home season, which comprises 13 Tests, eight ODIs and three T20Is. Thirteen Tests equals the record for the highest number of home Tests in a season; the only other instance was in 1979-80, also in India.New Zealand’s previous tour to India was four years ago, when they visited for two Tests and two T20 internationals. They lost the Tests 0-2 and won the T20Is 1-0.Initially, the BCCI’s press release had said Kolkata would host the third Test in October but the schedule was reworked to accommodate Durga Puja festivities.*1010 GMT, June 28, 2016. The article was amended to reflect a change in schedule in the India v NZ Test series

Companies that handle the HawkEye technology and Spider-cam have also pulled out from the final, which will be televised without the supporting components

Umar Farooq28-Feb-2017Sunset and Vine, the UK-based production house that handles the broadcast of the Pakistan Super League, has withdrawn its services for the league’s final which will be played in Lahore on March 5. ESPNcricinfo understands that a Dubai-based company, Innovative Production Group, will handle production of the Lahore match. The PSL is also seeking to replace its overseas commentators: Danny Morrison, Alan Wilkins, Mel Jones are reluctant to travel to Lahore, while Ian Bishop, whose contract was until the play-offs, will leave to cover West Indies’ home ODIs against England.Companies that handle the HawkEye technology and Spider-cam have also pulled out from the final, which will be televised without the supporting components. A drone camera is likely to replace the spider-cam.Sunset and Vine, which had also handled the broadcast for the PSL in its inaugural edition last year, had informed the PCB through an email last week about its reluctance to travel to Lahore. Innovative Production Group was part of the PCB’s contingency plan.On Monday the provisional government gave a public go-ahead to the staging of the final at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, after week-long deliberations and assessments of the security situation in the country. The PCB has been working to get the ground ready for the match later this week.The stadium has been renovated extensively, and includes a new media facility at the College End of the ground, with a capacity to accommodate more than 150 journalists, which will be inaugurated before the final. Tickets for the final are also set to be released, with prices ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 12000.To ensure the final features foreign players, the PSL management has asked the four franchises who have made it to the play-offs to work on a contingency plan. The franchises have been asked to nominate a pool of foreign players from a list of over 60 said to be willing to travel to Pakistan, in the event – as seems likely – some of their own foreign players don’t go. Presently, Peshawar Zalmi are most confident their foreign contingent will travel to Lahore, while players from the other three sides are still undecided. Teams can field a maximum of four foreign players in their XI but the rules are flexible enough to allow teams to play with XI local players if necessary.Najam Sethi, the PSL chairman, is optimistic the final will feature foreign players.
“First let the two finalists be confirmed, which will be by March 3,” he said on Monday. “I will be going back to Dubai now and once the finalists are confirmed I will again talk to the franchise owners and foreign players. We have also prepared a back-up list of foreign players in case the overseas signings of the finalist teams refuse to come to Lahore. “

Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate laughed off suggestions that he may be joined by France team-mate Kylian Mbappe at Anfield.

Article continues below

Article continues below

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• Konate laughs off Mbappe Liverpool link
• Says: 'We all know where he's going'
• Reds go five clear at top of table

• Getty
  

  WHAT HAPPENED?

  The defender returned from suspension to help his side to a comfortable win at Brentford on Saturday afternoon. He was in a playful mood after the game when asked by a French broadcaster on the prospects of Mbappe, who this week told Paris Saint-Germain he will depart the club his summer, joining him on Merseyside next season.

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• WHAT IBRAHIMA KONATE SAID

  "Do you really think he's going to come here?" laughed Konate when asked by about the chances of Mbappe joining Liverpool. "I think we all know where he's going to go."

• Getty Images
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Konate's response underlines the theory that Mbappe is destined for Real Madrid. Representatives of the 25-year-old are reportedly in negotiations to finalise a deal that has been a long time in the making, with the Madrid board keen to conclude the transfer with as little fuss as possible and also keen not to upset a club they may yet meet in the Champions League this season.

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• WHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL AND KONATE?

  It was a good result for Liverpool, winning at a ground that has proved problematic for them in the last two seasons. But it wasn't all plain sailing as the Reds picked up a number of concerning injuries as they head into a week where they face Luton Town in the league on Wednesday and contest the first silverware of the season against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final next Sunday.

Scott Borthwick’s high-class 134 and Paul Collingwood’s 85 not out gave Lancashire’s attack one of its first pick, shovel and prop days at cricket’s coalface this season

Paul Edwards at Chester-le-Street15-May-2016
ScorecardScott Borthwick made his 13th first-class hundred•Getty Images

To die wondering might actually be rather pleasant, though it is not something that either Jack Burnham or Neil Wagner is likely to experience.Drifting away while contemplating pleasant paths, albeit that they have not been walked, may, at most rates, be preferable to mulling over one’s earthly demise and pondering what, if anything, is next on one’s dance card. However, as Wagner and Burnham went at it hammer and tongs in the first major duel of this game, it was most apparent that their labours were unsparing and that conserving energy had no place in them.The pair began their battle in the second hour of the morning. By that time both Keaton Jennings and Mark Stoneman had been dismissed, the Durham openers nicking catches off the excellent Tom Bailey; and towards the close, home supporters at a sun-embraced Riverside were applauding Scott Borthwick’s high-class 134 and Paul Collingwood’s 85 not out, fine innings which had given Lancashire’s attack one of its first pick, shovel and prop days at cricket’s coalface this season.Yet it was 19-year-old Burnham who helped take the battle to Lancashire’s bowlers, cover-driving Wagner easefully to the boundary in the 25th over and then attempting a rather wilder repeat off the next delivery, only to edge the ball over a leaping Liam Livingstone’s outstretched fingers at first slip. In response Wagner sent down a couple of precisely targeted bouncers, although he is not a bowler for whom that over-used tactic is a default position. The second bumper whacked Burnham somewhere in the vicinity of his helmet and it was followed by a discussion between the pair in which Wagner seemed to take the leading role.He is a curious fellow, Wagner. Off the field he is affable, peaceful, serene. Although he admitted a few weeks ago that he might have to “eliminate” Stuart Broad, he did so with the courteous regret of a James Bond villain. Out in the middle, mind, Wagner spits vengeance and bowls some of the most unsparingly aggressive spells one might see. The history of fast bowling has thrown up similar examples, of course, but rarely is the contrast between the Quaker and the Visigoth as sharp as it is with Mr. Wagner and “Waggy”, his on-field persona. Robert Louis Stevenson knew a thing or two.All the same, Burnham won their battle. At lunch he was 35 not out and had helped Borthwick revive Durham’s innings after their early losses. Wagner’s seven wicketless overs had cost 32 runs. For his part, Borthwick was batting with gentle ease and his glide though gully off Procter was as well-timed and graceful as anything we saw all day. Neither a cut nor a drive, it seems something of a signature shot for Borthwick and few batsmen play it as well. It will be a stroke for us to play once more when May is a memory.Having established himself at the wicket and properly gauged the pace of a pitch from which Bailey extracted most bounce, Borthwick unfurled an even greater variety of shots in the afternoon session. There was the precise cover drive which took him to his fifty off 81 balls and the calculated sweep off Simon Kerrigan, which took him into the nineties.Between those strokes, however, Borthwick lost Burnham, who was caught at slip by Livingstone off Bailey for 44, and Richardson, who edged Kyle Jarvis to the same fielder seven overs later. Both these dismissals bolstered the view that while this is a good batting wicket, it is also a pitch on which seamers can bowl with the hope that their efforts will receive recompense. Certainly home supporters seem likely to rue the absence of Chris Rushworth, whose hip injury prevented his playing in this match.Richardson was replaced by Collingwood, whose 123-run fifth-wicket stand with Borthwick was clearly the home side’s best period of the day. Durham’s skipper was confident and assertive against Wagner from the outset, cover-driving his fifth ball to the Lumley Castle boundary and swivel-pulling his next to square leg. A few overs later Collingwood came down the pitch to Kerrigan and hit him sweetly and straight for six, as if confirming home ascendancy. Borthwick responded with similarly assured strokeplay and reached his century off 158 balls with a cover drive off Wagner. Durham took tea on 213 for 4, emboldened in their belief that the next session would belong to them.So it more or less proved, despite Lancashire’s attack sticking to its disciplines and taking two wickets. Borthwick and Collingwood took the score to 274 before Borthwick, in one of his rare miscalculations, tried to hit Kerrigan over long-on but only found Alviro Petersen five yards inside the boundary. Ryan Pringle then batted well enough for his 25 before giving Bailey his fourth wicket when he gloved a pull to Livingstone who dived forward from slip to take the catch.But by then one’s attention was taken by Collingwood, who was batting with ever more circumspection as close of play approached. James Weighell whacked Wagner’s last ball of the day over square leg for six but Durham’s skipper ended play by patting back a maiden from Kerrigan. His forward defensive shots were as resolute and brimming with resistance as his boundaries had been. Late Collingwood: a cricketer phrased like a vintage.

Matt Prior became only the third wicketkeeper to score a hundred on debut, and the fifth batsman to do so at Lord’s

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna18-May-2007Four batsmen managed three-figure scores against a hapless West Indian attack, but the man of the moment was undoubtedly Matt Prior, the 25-year-old debutant wicketkeeper. While the rest of the batsmen scored at a strike rate of less than 60, Prior blasted 126 off a mere 128 balls, a scoring rate of 98.43 per 100 balls.As the table below shows, Prior’s most productive stroke was the pull – he played it 12 times for 36 runs, including eight fours. The drives on either side of the wicket fetched him plenty of runs too.

Prior had little problems in dealing with the good-length stuff – West Indies’ bowlers sent down 93 deliveries around that length, and he scored at more than a run a ball, including 14 fours.

With this hundred, Prior has become only the third wicketkeeper to score a hundred on debut, after two Sri Lankan glovemen – Brendon Kuruppu (201 not out against New Zealand in 1986-87) and Romesh Kaluwitharana (132 not out against Australia in 1992). He also became the fifth batsman to score a hundred on debut at Lord’s – after Harry Graham, John Hampshire, Sourav Ganguly and Andrew Strauss – and needs only five more runs to become the highest scorer on debut here. The record is currently held by Ganguly, who scored 131 in 1996.West Indies, on the other hand, didn’t have much to celebrate in the field. Four of their bowlers conceded more than 100 runs – it’s only the second time this has happened to the West Indians in a Test against England: the only earlier occasion was in Jamaica in 1930, when England amassed 849. The only consolation for West Indies is that with two days of play already done, it’s highly unlikely England will attempt to get anywhere near that total.

Middlesex survived the loss of six wickets for 20 runs to sneak an enthralling London derby by one wicket in front of more than 27,000 at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2017
ScorecardKumar Sangakkara sustained Surrey until he misjudged a ramp shot•Getty Images

Steven Finn hit a dramatic winning boundary off Ravi Rampaul to earn Middlesex a nerve-shredding one-wicket victory in the NatWest T20 Blast against Surrey before a near sell-out 27,205 London derby crowd at a floodlit Lord’s.A sudden Middlesex collapse left Middlesex needing nine runs from the last three overs but with three wickets still intact. Then Jade Dernbach had Nathan Sowter caught at cover and John Simpson, trying to turn Ravi Rampaul to leg, was caught for 7 off a leading edge. From 133 for 3, chasing 159, Middlesex had staggered to 153 for 9.That left last man Finn coming in to join Tom Helm with six still required. He survived a close lbw appeal from Rampaul before the next ball, also angled into his pads, flew away for four leg byes. Rampaul’s next ball, the fourth of the 19th over, was an attempted slower ball and Finn clipped the resulting full toss to the midwicket ropes amid wild scenes.Surrey captain Gareth Batty had earlier taken 4 for 14 with his off spin, including a double-wicket maiden in the 16th over when he dismissed both Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee, to set in motion the collapse which produced such a thrilling finish on a two-paced pitch.

That Middlesex wobble

133-4 Morgan 15.2
133-5 Southee 15.3
143-6 Higgins 16.3
150-7 Franklin 16.6
153-8 Sowter 17.6
153-9 Simpson 18.1

Only Kumar Sangakkara, with 70 from 42 balls, took the attack to Middlesex’s bowlers for anything other than a brief cameo and Surrey’s eventual 158 for 9 never looked enough.Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling began the chase well, the left-handed Malan hitting two fours in the first over from Dernbach and the stocky Stirling plundering two fours and a remarkable swatted six over wide third man from Sam Curran’s opening over.At 37, and after Malan had driven Rampaul’s first ball high for four, Stirling fell for 23 in that same fourth over as he mishit to mid off. Malan, however, twice swung Rampaul for huge legside sixes in a sixth over which ended with Middlesex well ahead of the required rate at 64 for one.Middlesex T20 captain Brendon McCullum made only 9 before slugging Batty’s second ball high to long on, where 39-year-old Sangakkara took a good tumbling catch to his right, and Surrey’s hopes rose when Malan chipped a low catch to Ollie Pope at extra cover from a ball which seemed to grip the surface.Malan made 41 from 26 balls, and his early aggression allowed Morgan and Franklin time to steady Middlesex’s reply, which they did with a judicious mixture of easy singles and the odd more adventurous stroke in a fourth wicket stand of 53 in six overs.

Captains’ views

Brendon McCullum (Middlesex):
“It was a brilliant game of cricket, and both sides contributed to the spectacle. We want to play an aggressive brand of cricket, and you have to be true to that whatever happens. We sent in Tim Southee to take on Gareth Batty’s off spin and it didn’t come off. So be it.
“But if we get to the final stages of this competition then we want to be comfortable with the way we are playing T20 and, when the pressure is on, we need to be able to cope with that. Thankfully, Finny got us over the line in the end and 27,000 people have been hugely entertained.
Gareth Batty (Surrey):
“I thought we might have pulled it out of the bag after not being at our best for most of the game. But it was not to be and Finny got them home.
“That lbw decision at the end against Finn? It was a close one, but the decision was made and we got on with it. Finny was good enough to get the runs needed after that, so fair play to him.”

That looked to be guiding Middlesex to a comfortable victory, but then Batty returned to have Morgan caught at point for 31, with Southee slogging the next ball into the hands of long off.Ryan Higgins drove his first ball for four, off Tom Curran, and then pulled his next for six. The next, however, was edged behind as Higgins went for 10 and the slide continued when Franklin was bowled later in Curran’s over for 23. Then came the fall of both Sowter and Simpson, and Finn’s late heroics.It was Surrey’s first defeat in the south group, after winning their first two games, while Middlesex added another two points to the one they gained for a thrilling tie against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham last Friday.The match began with Finn’s opening over, the second of the innings, being taken for 17 runs as Aaron Finch followed two legside fours with a pulled six into the Mound Stand. With Finch already having collected a five in the opening over, a direct hit run out attempt by Higgins deflecting off the bowlers’ stumps and racing away for four overthrows, Surrey were off to a flyer.The Lord’s crowd was just 800 below England’s domestic T20 record•Getty Images

Southee tried to stem the early flow of runs, producing a beauty to have Dom Sibley caught behind for 5 in his second over with the new ball, and when Helm replaced him at the Nursery End he bowled Finch for 22 through an attempted heave at his first delivery.Helm’s opening over only cost a single but Sangakkara increased the tempo again by lofting the unhappy Finn high over the covers for six and then taking a couple of steps down the pitch to swing Helm magnificently over long on for another maximum.Sowter’s introduction for the eighth over saw the Australian-born leg-spinner knock back Ben Foakes’ off stump with his first ball, the England Lions wicketkeeper-batsman only briefly firing with 13, but teenager Pope – who also made 13 – then added 23 with Sangakkara before he was bamboozled and bowled by a slower ball from the returning Southee.The Curran brothers did not last long, Stirling’s off spin accounting for them both. Sam was bowled for 5, back when he should have been forward, and Tom was also bowled, for 4, when he tried to force square a ball which seemed to creep through a little low to hit his off stump halfway up.Sangakkara, though, hit Franklin’s left-arm seam high over extra cover for six and also drove and swung fours off the same bowler in a 16th over costing 18. When Finn returned for the 19th over, however, nursing figures of 0 for 40 from his first three overs, the great Sri Lankan left-hander diverted a low full toss into his own stumps as he tried an unconventional flick to leg from outside his off stump.That success also allowed Finn to concede just two singles from his final over and, with Helm also bowling tightly in a 20th over in which Batty hit him straight to extra cover and Rampaul picked out deep square leg to go for ducks, the Surrey innings ended with something of a whimper.Surrey were missing opener Jason Roy, because of a shoulder injury, while Kevin Pietersen is not scheduled to make his T20 Blast comeback until next Wednesday, in the home match against Essex.

Liverpool's Darwin Nunez beat Mohamed Salah to an impressive 2023-24 milestone with a brace against Bournemouth on Sunday.

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• Nunez netted a brace against Bournemouth
• First EPL player to score 10 goals & provide as many assists this season
• Liverpool thrashed Bournemouth 4-0

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  With his brace on Sunday, which helped Liverpool register an important 4-0 win over Bournemouth, the Uruguayan striker achieved a milestone as he became the first player in the ongoing 2023-24 Premier League season to score 10 goals and provide 10 assists across all competitions.

  He opened the scoring for his side in the 49th minute and then doubled his account in injury time after executing a brilliant first-time volley when latching onto Joe Gomez's cross at the back post.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  While Nunez becomes the only player to have 10 goals and as many assists in the current season, when it comes to overall goal contributions from Premier League players, Reds' star Mohamed Salah continues to top the list with 14 goals and eight assists. He is followed by Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, who has netted nine times and provided 10 assists. Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland has the same number of goals as Salah but has contributed with only four assists thus far.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL?

  With the win over the Cherries, Jurgen Klopp's side extended their lead over Manchester City to five points at the top of the table. The Reds are now set to take on Fulham in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final clash on Wednesday before facing Norwich City in the FA Cup fourth round on January 28.