It wasn’t a dead rubber, but neither was it a particularly competitive finish to the series. Led by a strong performance from their fast bowlers, who rolled England for 138, Australia cruised to an eight-wicket victory in the final ODI Old Trafford and ended their three-month tour of England, which featured the disappointment of another
A record-shattering sixth-wicket stand between Luke Ronchi and Grant Elliott yanked New Zealand out of the mire at 93 for 5 and sent them hurtling to 360 for 5, in what began as a counterattack and then grew into a gargantuan, unstoppable thing of terror. Their unbeaten stand of 267 off 180 balls was the
Taijul Islam’s hat-trick, the first by an ODI debutant, spun Zimbabwe out for 128 and spurred Bangladesh to their second 5-0 series win. The home side won with 25.3 overs and five wickets to spare, with Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman unbeaten on 51 and 13 respectively. Bangladesh’s spin attack was the story of the match.
Australia will enter the World Cup year ranked as the game’s top ODI team and with the likes of Steve Smith, Aaron Finch and Shane Watson all running into ominous form, following a fourth victory in five matches over a sloppy South Africa at the SCG. The hosts had more to play for in this
On Sunday, in Ranchi, between the 34th and 44th overs India lost four wickets, going from 180 for 3 to 231 for 7 in a chase of 287. At that point they needed 54 off 36, with just those three wickets remaining. An inexperienced batsman might have panicked, and the cause would have been lost.