Piedt leads SA to win

South Africa beat Zimbabwe by nine wickets inside four days in the one-off test at Harare Sports Club to reinforce its position as the top-ranked team. The South Africans easily knocked off the 41 runs they needed in their second innings, finishing on 44-1 to seal victory and follow up a series win over Sri Lanka last month under new captain Hashim Amla. South Africa earlier bowled Zimbabwe out for 181 in its second innings after off-spinner Dane Piedt took 4-62 to increase his match haul to eight wickets on debut. Fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel picked up three wickets each in the second innings, as Zimbabwe's initial resistance was swept away and it slumped from 98-2, losing eight wickets for 83 runs on the final afternoon. Steyn, the top-ranked bowler in tests, finished with match figures of 8-84 and South Africa was seldom in trouble on a slow, lifeless pitch in Harare that the visiting batsmen and bowlers both took a little time to work out. "Very satisfied with the win, we played well through the day," South Africa's AB de Villiers said. "Test cricket is all about playing well away from home." Zimbabwe fought hard and had its own offspinner making a successful debut. John Nyumbu took 5-157 in South Africa's telling first innings of 397 to give the strugglers a positive outlook despite their batting collapse on the last day. "We were competitive for three days and were blown away after lunch today," Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor said. "A lot of positives for us. Nyumbu has been in first-class form for a number of years. Full credit to him." Playing its first test in a year and first against South Africa in a decade, Zimbabwe made 256 batting first, relying heavily on Taylor's 93. South Africa's Piedt returned 4-90 in his first bowl in tests and was an instant success when he removed Mark Vermeulen with his first ball, a delivery that turned sharply from outside the off stump on a pitch that helped the spinners more than anyone.

Steyn had enough pace and skill to trouble the Zimbabweans despite the pitch to take 5-46 in the first innings, his 24th career five-wicket haul. South Africa replied with 397, with Faf du Plessis making 98, Quinton de Kock 81, and JP Duminy 55. Opener Vusi Sibanda gritted his way to 45 as Zimbabwe held off the South Africans at the start of the second innings, but he and Vermeulen fell in successive overs to start the collapse. Steyn had 3-38 and Morkel 3-15 to back up Piedt, who won the man of the match prize.

Source-https://www.crictoday.com

England trounce India in 4th test

England ripped through India’s fragile batting lineup for the second time in three days to win the fourth test by an innings and 54 runs, earning a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Staring at a 215-run deficit from the first innings, the Indians mustered just 161 in less than four hours as part-time off-spinner Moeen Ali sparked a collapse from 53-2 to 66-6 to finish with figures of 4-39. Chris Jordan clinched victory by claiming the final two wickets in two balls, ensuring the bad weather forecast for Manchester for Sunday and Monday would not be a factor. The home attack prospered even without paceman Stuart Broad, who retired hurt toward the end of England’s first innings of 367 — after edging Varun Aaron’s quick delivery between the grille and peak of his helmet and into his face while going for his third straight six. Broad looked groggy as he crouched down, with the ball still lodged in his visor. He was led off the pitch with blood pouring from his nose, and needed stitches. “I think he has broken his nose,” said England captain Alastair Cook, who added that Broad had been taken to the hospital. “He had a nasty blow but I think he’ll be all right.” England posted an update on Broad’s condition later. It said X-rays confirmed a fractured nose but added that Broad is still likely to be available for the fifth test starting Friday at The Oval. Resuming on 237-6, overnight pair Joe Root (77) and Jos Buttler (70) pushed their seventh-wicket partnership to 134 in the morning session, taking even the outside possibility of a victory away from India.

Some lusty blows from the tail lifted the lead above 200 — Broad (12) didn’t reappear — but England had less than two sessions to wrap up the win before the arrival of stormy weather forecast for Sunday. Simply surviving until stumps was the order of the day for India but after reaching tea at 33-1, the batsmen disintegrated in the face of some fine spin bowling by Ali, who found pace and bounce on a good Old Trafford wicket. The last nine wickets fell in 22 overs and a little over two hours, even with Broad absent and James Anderson feeling ill and only bowling nine overs. India was bowled out for 152 in the first innings after some brilliant swing bowling by Broad and Anderson. The tourists’ two innings lasted a total of 89.4 overs. When Virat Kohli edged Anderson to second slip to be out for 7, leaving the batsman’s average for the series at just 13.5, India had lost four wickets for just eight runs in 23 balls and was reeling on 61-5. Only Ravichandran Ashwin with 46 not out offered any real resistance in the lower order.

Earlier, Root passed 50 for the fourth time in six innings this series and had added 29 runs to his overnight 48 before gloving a legside delivery by Pankaj Singh to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was Singh’s first test wicket and he then removed the dangerous Buttler, who resumed on 22 and had settled into an attacking groove by the time he drove a shot straight to Cheteshwar Pujara at mid-off. That brought Broad to the crease and, in the first over after lunch, he hooked Aaron for successive sixes and attempted a third in a row from a delivery timed at 88.1 mph (141.8 kph). Broad was late onto it, edging it into his own face through the visor. England didn’t take any risks on one of its two premier fast bowlers, keeping him in the dressing room for more treatment. Ali, and some dreadful shot-making from the Indians, ensured Broad wouldn’t be required.
Source-http://www.crictoday.com/

Rajasthan Royals
The Royals have retained Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson and James Faulkner, the five who played an important role in their success in the previous edition of the cash rich league. Unmukt Chand, the new entry, will open the innings with Ajinkya Rahane. Apart from Watson and Faulkner, the team could play Steven Smith and Tim Southee. However, Brad Hodge is another contender for the playing XI. Abhishek Nayar and Rajat Bhatia are the two capable all-rounders in the team while the spinning duties will remain in the hands of Pravin Tambe. They don't have big Indian stars in their squad.

Sunrisers Hyderabad
The team from Hyderabad had a great auction process. They have retained some of their stars while also managed to bag some famous faces in this format of the game. David Warner and Aaron Finch should play in the opening game and they will form an effective top three with Captain Shikhar Dhawan. Darren Sammy and Dale Steyn should be the other two foreign stars in the playing XI. Ishant Sharma will bowl alongside Steyn while there won't be any changes in the spin department as Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma had an impressive outing in the sixth season of the cash rich league. The presence of Irfan Pathan in the squad also gives Sunrisers Hyderabad a much required balance.

Verdict
I will go with Sunrisers Hyderabad because of their strong bowling unit.

Teams
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Brad Hodge, Sanju Samson, Stuart Binny, Ankush Bains, James Faulkner, Pravin Tambe, Kevon Cooper, Unmukt Chand, Steven Smith, Ben Cutting, Deepak Hooda, Iqbal Abdullah, Karun Nair, Vikramjeet Malik, Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Kane Richardson, Dishant Yagnik (wk), Tim Southee, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma, Amit Mishra.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), David Warner, Aaron Finch, Irfan Pathan, Srikkanth Anirudha, Darren Sammy, Naman Ojha (wk), Parvez Rasool, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Karn Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Ricky Bhui, Amit Paunikar, Moises Henriques, Ashish Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jason Holder, Chama Milind, Manpreet Juneja, KL Rahul, Brendan Taylor, Prasanth Parmeswaran, Venugopal Rao, KL Rahul.
Note-The Royals have retained Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson and James Faulkner, the five who played an important role in their success in the previous edition of the cash rich league. Unmukt Chand, the new entry, will open the innings with Ajinkya Rahane.
The Royals have retained Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson and James Faulkner, the five who played an important role in their success in the previous edition of the cash rich league.

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IPL 2014 Preview: Chennai Super Kings vs. Kings XI Punjab

Chennai Super Kings
This outfit has dominated Indian Premier League since its inception. However, this year it won’t be that easy as they are under the scanner of the Supreme Court for the alleged involvement of some of its officials in the spot fixing saga. Apart from this, CSK has changed a lot in terms of players. There is no Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Albie Morkel and few more in the team while the likes of Brendon McCullum, Samuel Badree and some others have come in as the new entries. The presence of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, whom they retained, is enough to boost the confidence of the other players. Samuel Badree could prove their trump card as he is in superb form at the moment. The fast bowling is looking quite weak with no great pace bowler. Ben Hilfenhaus, Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey are good but are not lethal.

Kings XI Punjab This franchise from Punjab has altogether built a new squad for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League. They have managed to snap up Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh and many others in the auction process but where is good Indian talent. The whole world knows that a team is allowed to field four foreign stars and the remaining seven has to come from India. Even there is no big Indian name in the bowling department. I know players like Sehwag, Bailey and the other foreign players could win matches single handedly but a team need quality Indian players as well which are not there in the Kings XI Punjab squad.Verdict My money is on Chennai Super Kings because they are more balanced than their opponents.

Teams Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Samuel Badree, Ben Hilfenhaus, Matt Henry, B Aparajith, Mithun Manhas, Ishwar Pandey, Pawan Negi, Vijay Shankar, Ronit More, John Hastings. Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey (c), David Miller, Manan Vohra, Virender Sehwag, Mitchell Johnson, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhaman Saha, Thisara Perera, Glenn Maxwell, Rishi Dhawan, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Akshar Patel, Beuran Hendricks, Karanveer Singh, Murali Kartik, Shivam Sharma, Shardul Thakur, L Balaji, Parvinder Awana, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Mandeep Singh. Note- Samuel Badree could prove their trump card as he is in superb form at the moment. The fast bowling is looking quite weak with no great pace bowler. Ben Hilfenhaus, Mohit Sharma and Ishwar Pandey are good but are not lethal.

cricket today magazine is a Expert Writer Of Cricket Match, crictoday india and also write Present Running series india versus new zealand series future match in t20 Wc banladesh and more about cricket new,update,records etc. Follow me On Social Plugging- Google Plus , IPL 7 t 20 Facebook, IPl Live score t20

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