New Delhi, July 25, 2022: Legends League Cricket will see participation from Mohd Kaif and R P Singh. Both the players were part of season one as well and have made an immense contribution to series during first season.

With the new season being played in India, there is a huge fan following which is building up for Legends League. With more legends confirming to play for season 2, the series is experiencing a massive recognition amongst cricket lovers. In the previous weeks, the league has added iconic and legendary players like Brett Lee, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, Virender Sehwag, Shane Watsaon, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Muralitharan, Monty Panesar, S. Badrinath and Stuart Binny,

Raman Raheja, Co-Founder & CEO, Legends League Cricket said, “Raman Raheja, Co-Founder & CEO, Legends League Cricket said, “I am sure fans are going to love every moment of cricket with their favourite legends. We saw some pure competitive cricket during the season one and we hope with the new players joining, the competition will become even more exciting and interesting. We welcome these players to the Legends family and looking forward to seeing them recreate some best cricketing moments on the pitch.”

A lot of star players have confirmed their participation

Meanwhile, a lot of other star players have confirmed their participation in the second season of the Legends League Cricket. Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, Mitchell McClenaghan, Chaminda Vaas, Shane Watson, Matt Prior, Harbhajan Singh, Eoin Morgan, and Brett Lee are a few star players among many to feature this season. Moreover, the tournament is set to be played in India this season, unlike last time when it was played in Oman.

“We have been constantly receiving requests from fans to hold the series in India and we are excited to bring the Legends League second season back home. We have the maximum number of cricket fans here in India. The first season had maximum viewership from India, followed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka followed by the rest of the world.

“We hope to give a better experience to our viewers and cricket enthusiasts. We are sure that the cricketing fans will rejoice in our decision to shift the base to India as the excitement of watching live cricket cannot be matched,” Raheja said about the decision.

The IPL may be done and dusted for this year, and the focus for the majority of the Indian cricket family has shifted towards the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November. Nonetheless, the Karnataka State Cricket Association is very busy, opening doors for more cricketers in the state to showcase their talents at the domestic level with the inaugural edition of the Maharaja Trophy.

And while the tournament, which was unveiled by India’s 1983 World Cup-winning cricketer Roger Binny, is hoping to become the stepping stone for emerging stars from Karnataka, the presence of senior pros can only augur well for the competition.

One of Karnataka’s most recognized cricketers now, leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal will also be part of the Maharaja Trophy, and he expects to see huge array of talented players showing off their wares in August in Mysore and Bengaluru.

“There are a lot of cricketers who have sprung out in the state. There are some players who weren’t in the reckoning some years ago but are knocking on the door of the senior team now. In that sense, it will be exciting to see a lot of these players. They are also definitely going to have scouts who will be watching them for the future. You never know, one good game or a few good ones, and you might just grab that IPL contract,” Shreyas said.

Shreyas, who has been part of Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, has also turned out for Bengaluru Blasters, Namma Shivamogga, Mysuru Warriors and Hubli Tigers in previous years in the erstwhile Karnataka Premier League, which has been relaunched as the Maharaja Trophy from 2022.

“I am very excited to be part of this and to finally see the Maharaja Trophy happening is great news. This is just a stepping stone for a lot of players in the state of Karnataka, for the IPL and possibly for the Indian team,” Shreyas said on the sidelines of a promotional event.

As a spinner, you will be targeted by batters, says Gopal

The experienced leg-break bowler will be one of the most watched cricketers in the T20 tournament, and he explained that in the shortest format of the game, one of the most important qualities for a spinner is a big heart.

“As a spinner the one thing I have been taught is you need to have a big heart because every batter target spinners, and you will be targeted. Batters will look to take you on and score big against you, but you need to have a big heart and come in with more aggression after that. You also need to understand the conditions and bowl smartly to get that extra dot ball or wicket.”

“Spinners are capable of taking three wickets in an over and there’s more chances for wickets in death bowling, but you also can get hit a lot more. As a bowler, trying to assess conditions beforehand helps, small things like that is what will give you the edge or that magic over.”

And there’s few better than Shreyas to talk about getting the edge over batters in difficult situations. After all, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were his first two wickets in 2019 when he got a hat-trick for the Rajasthan Royals while going up against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Australian Marcus Stoinis was Shreyas’ third victim on the day.

Looking back, Shreyas said that things could have turned out very differently had he not adjusted himself a little in the conditions. “I knew every ball was like a free-hit and I just didn’t want to get hit for sixes, that was my plan. I knew they had to come hard at me and I had only two fielders on the shorter side. The odds were stacked against me. But since I have played here a lot, I understood the wicket and conditions better, and realised that I had to bowl a little more overspin than pushing it through. That helped me, but on another day those deliveries could have gone out of the park against such world class batters,” the right-arm spinner signed off.

How many more batters will Shreyas bamboozle in the Maharaja Trophy, or will they read the conditions better than the experienced spinner?

The three-week-long extravaganza is all set to begin on 7th August and go on till 26th and will see six teams battle it out for top honours. The games will be broadcast on Star Sports 2, Star Kannada and Fancode. The tournament will be held in two phases, first in Mysore and then in Bengaluru.

New Delhi, July 24, 2022: Legends League Cricket building further momentum and excitement among fans has added more iconic players like Ian Butler (New Zealand), Mitchell McClenaghan (New Zealand), Elton Chigumbura (Zimbabwe), Dhammika Prasad (Sri Lanka), Paras Khadka (Nepal), Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka), Christopher Mpofu (Zimbabwe) and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (India), for Season 2.

Since Legends League Cricket has announced its venue for Season 2 in India, there is tremendous excitement and interest seen among fans. In the previous weeks, it has added iconic and legendary players like Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Muralitharan, Monty Panesar, Pravin Tambe, Naman Ojha, S. Badrinath, Stuart Binny, and Asghar Afghan.

Recently, it was announced that LLC season two would see the light of the day in India instead of Oman wherein the CEO of the League added that he received a huge response from fans and the cricket community to host the event in the Asian nation.

Raman Raheja, Co-Founder & CEO, Legends League Cricket said, “We are receiving huge response from fans and the cricket community, after the venue announcement, with the addition of Ian Butler, Mitchen McCleneghan, Chaminda Vaas and others, Season 2 becoming hotter day-by-day. We welcome these players to the Legends family and looking forward to seeing them recreate some best cricketing moments on the pitch.”

We have been constantly receiving requests from fans to hold the series in India and we are excited to bring the Legends League second season back home. We have the maximum number of cricket fans here in India.”

“The first season had maximum viewership from India, followed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka followed by the rest of the world. We hope to give a better experience to our viewers and cricket enthusiasts. We are sure that the cricketing fans will rejoice in our decision to shift the base to India as the excitement of watching live cricket cannot be matched,” he added.

STORMONT – Glenn Phillips guided New Zealand to a six-wicket win over Ireland in the third T20I, hitting an unbeaten 56 off 44 balls in a successful chase of 175.

Ireland bounced back from a disappointing batting performance in the second T20I – when they were bowled out for 91 – and had New Zealand on 65-3 at one stage, but an 82-run stand between Phillips and Daryl Mitchell saw the Black Caps effectively navigate a tricky period to secure a 3-0 series victory.

Ireland batted first and Paul Stirling was immediately at his blistering best, striking a six with his second ball of the innings as he moved to 19 off 10. However, at the other end Andrew Balbirnie perished to Blair Tickner for a 16-ball 10.

But Stirling and Lorcan Tucker kept moving at a healthy rate, putting on 46 off 31 balls for the second wicket. The latter looked in good touch when taking on the left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner, showcasing his array of sweeps and some quick feet down the ground to record three consecutive boundaries.

Stirling was undone by the spin of Ish Sodhi – a bit of extra bounce caught the right-hander’s glove for a catch behind – to depart for 40 and Tucker fell for 28 off 19 in the following over to leave Ireland 81-3 in the 11th over.

New Zealand slowed the scoring as Ireland tumbled to 116-6 in the 17th over, but then came a blistering stand between Mark Adair and Curtis Campher. The pair put on 58 off just 23 deliveries, with the former smashing an astonishing four sixes and two fours in his 15-ball 37.

In response, Finn Allen raced out of the blocks for New Zealand, depositing Craig Young for 14 runs in the space of three balls. But Young had the perfect response, ending his first over with a pinpoint yorker to send Allen on his way.

Martin Guptill kept the aggression going, moving to 21 off 12, but Josh Little had Dane Cleaver pull the ball straight to Campher at deep square leg for 5 to leave New Zealand 41-2 in the fifth over.

George Dockrell had two catches dropped off two consecutive balls in his first over – Phillips was the lucky man – but it was a case of third time lucky when Guptill top-edged a sweep off the left-armer to Little at short fine-leg.

Ireland were in a strong position but Phillips and Mitchell began the rebuild, rotating the strike before 20 runs off Campher in the 15th over softened the equation.

Little dismissed Mitchell for 48 in the 17th over, taking a return catch after the right-hander top-edged a pull, but Jimmy Neesham arrived to play a blistering cameo of 23* off six to end the match and series.

Ireland v New Zealand, 3rd T20I, Stormont, 22 July 2022

Ireland 174-6 (20 overs; P Stirling 40, M Adair 37*; I Sodhi 2-27)
New Zealand 180-4 (19 overs; G Phillips 56*, D Mitchell 48; J Little 2-33)

New Zealand won by six wickets

Despite defeats in the first two games of the three-match T20 International series against New Zealand, wicket-keeper Lorcan Tucker believes that learnings taken from these games will stand to this Irish team as they go forward into the T20 World Cup in October.

Tucker believes that the team are on the right track if they stay focused on the process, and is hopeful that the team can pull off a victory in the final T20I on Friday in Stormont.

Speaking ahead of the final game in the series Tucker said: “New Zealand have shown us some areas where we can improve as well as highlighting some of their own strengths. It’s important for us to look at what high-quality opposition do in certain scenarios. Their clarity and execution of skills can offer us new ideas and ways of playing.

“Results-wise, it’s been a bit disappointing. New Zealand have played some good cricket and we haven’t performed as well as we would have liked. We are trying to build a method that suits our style of play, and these things can take time to get right. Every game is an opportunity for us to improve so we’ll be looking to do that in the third game on Friday.”

What do you think the team can do differently to hopefully get a result on Friday?

“We’ve shown already what we can do in the game against India a few weeks ago. We want to continue in this vein of playing positive cricket and taking the opposition on. As a team, we think that if we can collectively do this, it’ll serve us well into the future.”

These games are very important in the context of the T20 World Cup later in the year. How important are results at this stage in that process? Is it just a case of battling away and figuring out what works best for the team going forward?

“Results are always important and are great motivators for performance. That’s not to say that they are the be all and end all. As a team, we believe that if the method and process is developed in the right way, the results will look after themselves.”

IRELAND MEN’S ODI SQUAD

Andrew Balbirnie (Captain), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Fionn Hand, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.

FIXTURE SCHEDULE

T20I series:

Friday 22 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 3rd T20I (Stormont; start time 4pm)

The game is fully sold-out.

BROADCAST DETAILS

In Republic of Ireland and the UK, matches will be shown on BT Sport as follows:

3rd T20 – BT Sport 3

For the rest of the world, the broadcast details are:

New Zealand: Spark Sport
India: FanCode
Sub Saharan Africa: SuperSport
Caribbean: Flow Sports
MENA: Etisalat
South East Asia: Eleven
US: Willow

BREADY – Australia secured a 63-run win over Ireland in the fourth match of the Hanley Energy Women’s International Tri-Series after half-centuries from Meg Lanning and Tahlia McGrath. Lanning and McGrath powered Australia to the highest total of the series so far before Alana King took 2-11 from three overs to continue her excellent tour.

Ireland enjoyed a fine start with the ball, limiting Australia to a score of 39-2 after six overs. Georgina Dempsey was the first bowler to strike, ending the second over of the innings by trapping Alyssa Healy lbw for 1.

While Lanning immediately looked at home out in the middle, Australia were dealt another blow when Rachel Delaney struck in her first over; Beth Mooney failed to get the right connection off a full toss, finding Arlene Kelly at mid-on to depart for 9.

That brought Lanning together with McGrath and after a quiet couple of overs, a pair of sixes from Lanning off Kelly’s second over got Australia moving.

Regular boundaries followed as Lanning and McGrath targeted all corners of the ground; the former brought up her half-century off 31 balls while the latter took 30.

Together their partnership was worth 135, the highest third-wicket stand for Australia Women in T20Is.

Lanning finally departed for 74 in the penultimate over of the innings, when Dempsey took an excellent catch at deep square leg off the bowling of Kelly.

Teenager Dempsey was in the action once again in the final over, removing McGrath for 70 as she finished with figures of 2-35 from her four overs. There were economical displays from Leah Paul (0-20 off three overs) and Ava Canning (0-18 off her three) but Australia’s total of 182-4 was an imposing one.

Australian bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals to end Ireland’s innings early

The Australians made inroads with the ball quickly, with Rebecca Stokell departing for 1 in the first over of the reply to Megan Schutt.

Fellow opener Gaby Lewis found Lanning’s safe hands off the bowling of Jess Jonassen in the fourth over but Orla Prendergast looked in fine touch, hitting four boundaries to move to 20 off just 13 balls.

A healthy partnership was brewing between skipper Laura Delany and Prendergast, but their stand of 36 was broken by leg-spinner King. In her first over, King lured Prendergast down the ground only for the ball to sneak through the advance and strike the stumps.

King struck once again in her next over, turning the ball past Rachel Delaney to have the right-hander stumped for 3.

Australia’s bowlers tied down run-scoring in the middle overs and regular wickets meant Ireland were unable to pose a significant threat as the innings wound down. Prendergast finished as Ireland’s top-scorer with 25, while King, Jonassen and Schutt picked up two wickets apiece.

Ireland subsided to an 88-run defeat in the second T20I against New Zealand, the Black Caps sealing a series win with one game to play. Ireland won the toss and elected to bowl, but Finn Allen looked to attack from the off, pulling his fourth ball, off Craig Young, for six and lofting Barry McCarthy’s first ball high and handsome over the leg-side. He raced to 35 off 20 balls before slicing Josh Little back over the bowler’s head, with McCarthy running in to take an excellent sliding catch.

Allen’s innings aside, Ireland were able to restrict New Zealand well early on. It took until the first ball of the eighth over for a batter other than Allen to find the boundary, with Dane Cleaver driving George Dockrell inside-out over extra cover before pulling Young for six.

Young hit back soon after, with Martin Guptill, in excellent form this tour but kept quiet today, bounced out, pulling straight to fine leg for 11 off 17. Having scored 40-0 off the first four overs, Ireland restricted New Zealand to 34-2 in the next six.

The Black Caps switched gears upon entering the second half of the innings, striking 48 runs between overs 11 and 14. They were particularly severe on McCarthy, Cleaver playing an audacious reverse-scoop for six and Glenn Phillips guiding a more orthodox boundary down to the same third area.

With Phillips also smashing Little over midwicket for six, he seemed set for a repeat of his Player of the Match performance in the first T20I. But Young once again provided the breakthrough, locating the right length to beat Phillips’ attempted off-side stroke and taking out middle stump.

There was no dislodging Cleaver however, who, having taken his time to get set, put together a match-winning innings. He enjoyed one significant slice of good fortune, Lorcan Tucker missing a stumping with the New Zealander on 40, but deserved his maiden international half-century, brought up with flicked six over deep square leg.

With Cleaver muscling the first ball of Young’s final over for six, and he and Daryl Mitchell hitting three fours of the first four balls of the 19th over, it seemed as if New Zealand might be headed towards 190. But an excellent finish from Little and Mark Adair kept the target to 180, keeping Ireland in the contest. Little bounced out Mitchell, the No.5 top-edging and Tucker completing the catch, while a Cleaver slice over backward point was the only boundary Adair conceded in his final over.

Paul Stirling got going straight away in reply, flicking the third ball of the chase off his pads for six. Three more boundaries followed, two hammered through the off-side and one wristed down the leg-side, but his dismissal, lofted without distance to the fielder, precipitated a slide which Ireland failed to halt. Gareth Delany was bowled first ball by Jacob Duffy, with the in-form Harry Tector run out soon after to leave the hosts 27-3 one ball into the fifth over.

Andrew Balbirnie and Curtis Campher both found the fine-leg fence in the sixth over, the captain clipping stylishly and the all-rounder ramping inventively, but the respite was only temporary, with the tumble of wickets soon resuming. Balbirnie drove at a full, wide ball but could only edge behind before Ish Sodhi’s double-strike left Ireland 45-6 and in deep trouble. Tucker was stumped, attempting to slog-sweep and setting off for a single, believing the ball had beaten the keeper before turning back too late, while George Dockrell was caught at slip as New Zealand went on the attack.

Campher tried to keep up the fight, skipping down the track to pump Mitchell Santner down the ground for four, but his resistance was also ended by Sodhi, the leg-spinner catching out the right-hander with some extra bounce and a top-edged cut looping to backward point.

Adair mounted a mini-fightback, lofting Santner over the off-side before hitting Sodhi for two fours and a six in consecutive balls. McCarthy also got in on the act, slapping James Neesham over mid-off and slog-sweeping Michael Bracewell for four.

But in a flash, the game was over. Adair and McCarthy both found the man on the leg-side boundary, with Young offering a simple catch to backward point to give Bracewell, bowling his first T20I over, a hat-trick.

The result confirmed a series win for New Zealand, leading 2-0 with a game to play. The final T20I will take place on Friday, 22 July at the same venue.

MATCH SUMMARY

Ireland v New Zealand, 2nd T20I, Stormont, 20 July 2022

New Zealand 179-4 (20 overs; G Phillips 69*, J Neesham 29*; J Little 4-35)

Ireland 91 (13.5 overs; M Adair 27, P Stirling 21; M Bracewell 3-5)

New Zealand won by 88 runs

South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen has attained a career-best third position in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings after his superb century in the first ODI against England at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday. The 33-year-old has gained three slots after smashing 134 off 117 balls against England, for which he was named Player of the Match. Van der Dussen has also been in the top five in T20Is, ranked fourth in June last year.

Aiden Markram, who also played an important part in the 62-run win for South Africa, has moved up 15 slots to 61st after his knock of 77 while opener Janneman Malan is up one place to joint-35th with a score of 57. David Miller’s 24 runs see him move up three places to 24th. Fast bowler Anrich Nortje has reached 61st position, his haul of four for 53 lifting him 18 slots.

For England, Jason Roy has moved up one slot to 16th position among batters after scoring 43 against South Africa and 41 in the last match of the series against India. His team-mate David Willey has moved up two slots to 35th among bowlers.

India’s architects of an impressive five-wicket win in Manchester that helped clinch the series against England, have surged up the rankings too. Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 125 off 113 balls has lifted him 25 places to 52nd while Hardik Pandya has progressed from 50th to 42nd after his 55-ball 71.

Pandya is also up 25 places to 70th among bowlers for his haul of four 24 while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has advanced four places to reach 16th position after grabbing three for 60.

Others to move up the ODI rankings for batters this week include Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal (up two places to 17th) and Liton Das (up two places to 30th), West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran (up four places to joint-35th), Scotland’s Calum MacLeod (up three places to 48th) and Namibia’s Gerhard Erasmus (up 21 places to 86th).

The list of bowlers sees Jasprit Bumrah cede top place to New Zealand’s Trent Boult after missing the last match, while Matt Henry has moved up one place to seventh. West Indies fast bowler Alazarri Joseph (up three places to 18th), New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner (up two places to 23rd), Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane (up six places to 33rd) and Scotland seamer Safyaan Sharif (up four places to 56th) are others to progress.

T20I Player rankings also updated

In the ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings, New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips has advanced five places to reach 30th position after his Player of the Match effort of 69 not out in the first match of their series against Ireland while fast bowler Lockie Ferguson has progressed 25 slots to 40th with a haul of four for 14.

New Delhi, July 20, 2022: Season 2 of Legends League Cricket is becoming bigger and bolder with every passing by adding punch with more legendary players to its list.

After stalwarts like Virender Sehwag (India), Harbhajan Singh (India), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), Irfan Pathan (India), Eoin Morgan (England), Mitchell Johnson (Australia) and lineup of other international players, it has added Shane Watson (Australia), Ravi Bopara (England), Matt Prior (England), Chris Tremlett (England), Parveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka), Romesh Kaluwitharana (Sri Lanka) and Upul Chandana (Sri Lanka) to the players list.

Earlier last week iconic players like Bret Lee, Yusuf Pathan, Joginder Sharma, Liam Plunkett, Monty Panesar, Pravin Tambe, Naman Ojha, S. Badrinath, Stuart Binny, and Asghar Afghan have confirmed their participation to play in the second season of Legends League of Cricket.

Raman Raheja, Co-Founder & CEO, Legends League Cricket said, “Addition of these iconic players for the Season 2 of Legends League Cricket has taken up the excitement to the next level among fans. We welcome them to the Legends team and looking forward to watch them, recreate the magic again on the field providing enhanced entertainment to the viewers.

The first season of Legends League Cricket had former cricketers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, and England, among other cricket nations divided into 3 Teams representing India, Asia, and the Rest of the World. Cricket fans all across the world saw the Legends of Cricket sweat it out at their competitive best during the first season. The second season is set to be played from September 20, 2022 to October 10, 2022, and will feature four privately-owned franchises.

Ravi Shastri, Commissioner of Legends League Cricket said, “The Carnival of Legends is back. Top Cricketers from around the world would be seen coming together. These players have contributed immensely to cricket throughout their careers. I am looking forward to watching them play the Legends League Cricket second season.”

Ireland claimed the ascendancy with the ball and in the early stages of their batting innings in the third Tri-Series T20I, but Pakistan battled back to claim victory by 13 runs in a rain-affected encounter. Ireland kept Pakistan to 92-5 in their 14 overs, pegging the tourists back either side of a lengthy rain delay and withstanding a pair of brisk cameos from Muneeba Ali and Nida Dar.

After inclement weather pushed back the start of play to 5pm, Ireland wasted no time in making inroads, Ava Canning striking with her first legal delivery. The right-arm seamer found significant inswing to knock over Iram Javed for a duck.

The rest of the powerplay was a tail of two batters, with Muneeba scoring freely and Bismah Maroof, the Pakistan captain, struggling to get going. The former slashed Canning for four in the first over before sweeping the same bowler to the fence in the fifth, with a pair of pulled boundaries off Arlene Kelly following soon after. Maroof, meanwhile, might have been grateful for the rain which came at the conclusion of the sixth over with her on nine off 20.

The delay reduced the game to 14 overs a side, and Ireland were able to restrict Pakistan well initially after the reduction, three overs following the break passing by boundary-less, and containing the wicket of Muneeba, swinging across the line and having her off stump pegged back by Laura Delany.

The captain struck again soon after, bringing her opposite number’s stay to an end for 13 off 25. That dismissal, skidding through to take out the middle stump, brought out Dar, who supplied the day’s most explosive cameo.

She signalled her intent instantly, sweeping Delany for four first ball, and coming down the track to loft Cara Murray down the ground in the next over. With Ayeesha Naseem, becalmed early on, muscling Delany for six, and Dar doing the same to Jane Maguire on the first ball of the final over, Pakistan would have hoped for a strong finish. But Maguire hit back, dismissing both batters and conceding only four further runs to give Ireland the momentum heading into the innings break.

They retained the advantage through the early stages of their innings, with openers Rebecca Stokell and Gaby Lewis combining to take 25 runs of the first two overs, bringing the required rate down to a run a ball in the process.

Stokell cut Diana Baig down to third, with a misfield allowing the ball through to the rope, before a crisp leg-side stroke brought a second boundary. Lewis fell inches short of beginning her innings in perfect fashion, a high and handsome pull shot bouncing just inside the field of play, and a sweep second ball brought another boundary. With Stokell also taking the aerial route, pumping Anam Amin back over her head, and Lewis cutting Dar for four, Ireland were well on top.

Ireland’s efforts in vain as rain favored Pakistan

Pakistan mounted a comeback however, restricting Ireland to just two further boundaries, both hit by Lewis off consecutive Kainat Imtiaz deliveries, and while Ireland’s strong start meant that they kept in touch with the required run rate, by the end they left themselves too much to do.

Stokell was the first to fall victim to the pressure, bowled by Tuba Hassan in the eighth over, and while Orla Prendergast stuck with Lewis and rotated the strike, the big hits weren’t forthcoming. When the No.3 did attempt to hit out, she could only manage to skew Dar into the air, Javed completing the catch, and from there, Ireland were scrambling.

The last two overs saw four wickets fall, three to run outs and one – Mary Waldron – lbw to Fatima Sana. A close game had ended with Pakista