Moeen Ali's four-wicket haul held off the charge of the Lucknow Super Giants as the Chennai Super Kings secured a 12-run Indian Premier League victory on Monday.

KL Rahul, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis were all dispatched by Moeen (4-26), who dismissed all but one of the Super Giants' first five batsmen.

Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and Devon Conway (47) opened for the Super Kings in a strong start with a 110-run stand, before the pair were eventually sent packing by Ravi Bishnoi (3-28) and Mark Wood (3-49).

The Super Kings then lost momentum, with their next seven batters accumulating just 117 additional runs to set the Super Giants a target of 217.

Rahul (20) and Mayers (53) gave the Super Giants' chase a promising start, but Deepak Hooda (2) and Pandya (9) failed to reach double figures as the visitors began to wane.

Krishnappa Gowtham (17) and Ayush Badoni (23) got the Super Giants close with 18 runs on a single Deepak Chahar (0-55) over.

But superb bowling from Tushar Deshpande (2-45) limited Lucknow to just seven runs in the 18th over, then just about defending a lead of 28 on the last to seal a Super Kings victory.

Ali in his groove

A fine bowling display from Moeen saw him register his best IPL bowling figures in the competition's victory.

He became just the fifth spinner to take a four-wicket haul at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in the IPL.

Dhoni's landmark

Hitting two sixes off three balls, MS Dhoni took his overall run tally in the IPL to 5,004, becoming just the seventh player overall and fifth Indian to score over 5,000 runs in the competition's history.

As Guyana Harpy Eagles bask in the glory of being crowned champions of regional first-class cricket, their captain Leon Johnson is feeling mighty proud of his team’s performance throughout the action-packed season.

The ebullient Johnson had the honor of raising the Headley-Weekes Trophy, capping off the final day of his professional career on Saturday the Guyana National Stadium. This came moments after his team performed a miracle with the ball to bowl out Leeward Islands Hurricanes on an eventful final morning. This kept them at the top of the table in the West Indies Championship.

Chasing 143 to win, the Hurricanes started the day on 81-1, and at 91-1, they looked set for a comfortable victory. However, off-spinner Kevin Sinclair with an incredible spell of bowling removed key Leewards batsmen and caused a collapse.

Johnson was overcome with emotion shortly after his team achieved the remarkable comeback and he received the Headley-Weekes trophy from Enoch Lewis, Cricket West Indies Director. He was full of praise for his team.

“This was a great performance … a great team performance and I’m massively proud of everyone who contributed towards us winning. We worked hard before the season, and we worked hard throughout this season. We were really tested in this final match, and we responded to the challenge with a magnificent win,” Johnson said.

“One of the great things about the season was the progress made by the young players in the team. As various time they stood up with major performances and that was great to see. We made progress. Also, tribute to the senior players who also led from the front, offered invaluable advice and made my job as captain easier on and off the field.

“Thanks to the fans and all those persons who backed us from start to finish. As a proud Guyanese I retire from the game lifting this prestigious trophy and also happy that I can bring smiles to the faces of the supporters.”

Alick Athanaze and Rahkeem Cornwall were the best performers with the bat and ball, respectively during the just-concluded West Indies Championships that saw the Guyana Harpy Eagles walk away with the title.

The Guyana franchsie amassed 84 points during the championships and was followed by the Windward Islands Hurricanes who scored 74.2 points over the five rounds of competition. They were followed by the Barbados Pride with 55.6, the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force 49.4 and the Leeward Islands Hurricanes 46.2.

The Jamaica Scorpions finished at the bottom of the six-team table with 25.6 points having failed to win a game all season.

Athanaze, the Volcanoes’ middle-order batsman, who was dismissed for a duck in his final innings of the season, scored 647 runs that included two hundreds and four half-centuries at an average of 64.70.

Cornwall was tops among the bowlers claiming 35 wickets during the season and enjoyed best bowling figures of 11-69 against the Scorpions. The Hurricanes’ spinner took his wickets at an impressive average of 14.34 and economy of 2.36.

Wicketkeeper Jahmar Hamilton had the most dismissals -19- that included 17 catches and two stumpings while in the outfield, Zachary McCaskie held 13 catches during the season.

A superb opening stand from Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis ensured Royal Challengers Bangalore cruised to an eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League opener.

Having fallen just short of the IPL final last year, RCB got their 2023 campaign off to a terrific start, dominating their opponents on both sides of the ball at The Mangalam Chinnaswamy Stadium.

RCB made a fast start with the ball, with Harshal Patel well-placed to claim an outside edge from Ishan Kishan (10) before Reece Topley bowled Cameron Green (5), though a bizarre collision between Dinesh Karthik and Mohammed Siraj saw the latter inexplicably drop Rohit Sharma.

Rohit was less fortunate when he handed Karthik a catch for just one run three balls later, though his exit allowed Tilak Varma to step up with a quickfire 84 off 46 balls, carrying Mumbai to 171-7.

That outstanding effort proved to be in vain, however, with Du Plessis (73) and Kohli (82 not out) putting on a strong opening stand of 148, both bringing up half-centuries by the end of the 12th over.

While skipper Du Plessis walked with five overs remaining, lofting through to Tim David for a simple catch, Mumbai never looked likely to break the momentum of RCB, who recorded a statement win.

Varma wastes no time

In dragging Mumbai to a respectable tally with his knock of 84, Varma averaged a boundary every 3.5 deliveries.

Only Jos Buttler – who struck a boundary every 2.2 balls in the Rajasthan Royals' win over Sunrisers Hyderabad – has posted a better such rate in the early stages of the IPL this season, with Varma hitting nine fours and four sixes from the 46 balls he faced.

Unfortunately for the 20-year-old, RCB's top-order batsmen were in similar form as Mumbai failed to build any momentum with the ball.

Fifty up for Kohli

RCB never looked likely to fall short in their chase of 172, with Kohli taking centre-stage to bring up a personal IPL landmark.  

With his knock of 82 runs from 49 balls, Kohli recorded his 50th score of 50 runs or more in the IPL. Only David Warner (60) has more half-centuries in the competition's history.

A maiden ODI century from Aiden Markram powered South Africa to a dominant 146-run victory over the Netherlands and a series sweep with it in Johannesburg.

Markram's impressive 175 helped the hosts to an imposing total of 370-8, before Sisanda Magala's five-for skittled any Dutch hope.

Victory not only means the Proteas clean up their two-game series, but also vault West Indies to go eighth in the World Cup Super League table and boost their automatic qualification hopes.

For the Netherlands however, it leaves them further adrift at the bottom as they prepare instead for a trip to Zimbabwe to compete in June's final qualifiers.

South Africa did not make the cleanest start after they were put in to bat, and looked laboured at 32-2 following the loss of Quinton de Kock (8) and Temba Bavuma (6) early on at Wanderers Stadium.

Markram's arrival at the crease saw a dramatic turnaround in fortunes as he punished the visitors with a freewheeling display, aided by David Miller's 91 for a 199-run fifth-wicket partnership.

Spirited efforts from Musa Ahmed (61) and Max O'Dowd (47) in response looked like they had set the stage for the Netherlands to make a game of it.

But the collapse of their tail – orchestrated by Magala with figures of 5-43 – ultimately saw them finish 224 all out, comfortably off the pace and condemned to another loss.

Markram rises to the occasion again

Two days after his 51 not out helped the Proteas to an eight-wicket win in their first game with the Netherlands, Markram was at it again in Johannesburg.

Not only was his 175 his maiden century in ODI cricket, but it also marks his highest individual score at senior international level across any format.

Magala pushes for World Cup spot

Just under 18 months on from his international debut against the Netherlands in November 2021, Magala enjoyed his best game yet with the ball in hand.

It is his first five-for in seven ODIs, and with the World Cup on the horizon, he will have done no damage to his prospects of potential inclusion.

Kyle Mayers and Mark Wood got their Indian Premier League campaigns off to brilliant starts as Lucknow Super Giants beat Delhi Capitals by 50 runs.

The Super Giants boasted the best performers with both bat and ball, as Mayers' 73 from 38 deliveries and Wood's 5-14 led them to a comfortable win on Saturday.

Lucknow's hopes were hit when key man and captain KL Rahul dismissed for 19 in the fourth over, and his replacement Mayers was hugely fortunate not to be sent packing on 14 when he was dropped by Khaleel Ahmed.

Mayers took advantage of that reprieve, plundering 59 more runs before finally succumbing to a peach of a delivery from Axar Patel that clipped the top of off stump.

Though that wicket slowed Lucknow's progress, they smashed 62 off the final four overs.

Delhi's chase got off to a fantastic start, racing to 33 for no loss off the first three overs, but a magnificent spell from Wood saw him dismiss Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh and Sarfaraz Khan to halt the Capitals' momentum.

Avesh Khan landed the hammer blow when he removed David Warner (56) with the Capital's captain caught by Krishnappa Gowtham.

Warner's men would tack on just 30 more runs, falling 50 short of the winning total as Wood sealed his five-for with the penultimate ball of the innings.

Mayers punishes Khaleel drop

The game could have been very different had Khaleel held on after Mayers tried to slog a slower ball from Chetan Sakariya.

Instead, the ball agonisingly hit the turf and Mayers went on to register two fours and seven maximums on his IPL debut, reaching his half-century after just 28 balls to truly exploit Khaleel's mistake.

Lightning quick pace from Wood halts Capitals' chase

A sublime couple of overs from Wood completely altered the momentum in Delhi's chase and put his team back in the ascendancy.

Wood's first game for Lucknow saw him earn player of the match honours.

The Windward Islands Volcanoes completed a dominant 121-run win over the Barbados Pride on day four of their final round fixture at the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday.

The Pride started the day 28-3 off 17 overs with Jonathan Drakes and Chaim Holder at the crease on nine and zero, respectively.

Drakes eventually went on to make a top score of 35 while Holder made nine and Kevin Wickham 11 as the Pride found themselves quickly on the back foot at 89-6 off 37.3 overs.

In the end, Kenneth Dember led the way with 5-26 off 13 overs as the Pride were dismissed for 114 in 47 overs.

Larry Edward finished with nine wickets in the match after taking 3-38 off 17 overs.

The Guyana Harpy Eagles find themselves at the pinnacle of regional first-class cricket once again after completing a stunning comeback on the final day of their final round fixture against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Providence to secure their sixth hold on the West Indies Championship title in eight years.

The Hurricanes entered day four in the driver’s seat, being 81-1 needing just 62 more runs for victory with nine wickets in the shed. Kieran Powell and Keacy Carty were the batsmen at the crease on 47 and 17, respectively.

The Leewards lost their first wicket of day four when Kevin Sinclair removed Carty for 21 before trapping Devon Thomas in front for a duck two balls later.

The Hurricanes then went on to lose their final seven wickets for just 17 runs as the Harpy Eagles completed a spectacular final day comeback.

Their efforts were led by Kevin Sinclair’s career-best figures of 6-33 off 16.5 overs while Veerasammy Permaul took 3-44 from his 15 overs.

The Harpy Eagles ended the campaign with 84 points, 9.8 points ahead of the Windward Islands Volcanoes in second.

Punjab Kings held on to beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs via the DLS method in the Indian Premier League after Andre Russell almost led an improbable comeback.

After being put in to bat by KKR in the second match of the new campaign, hosts Punjab racked up 191-5, as an 86-run second-wicket partnership between Bhanuka Rajapaksa (50) and captain Shikhar Dhawan (40) set them up.

Rajapaksa reached his half century from just 30 balls, with Jitesh Sharma (21 off 11) and Sam Curran (26 off 17) helping to keep up the momentum after the Sri Lanka batter's dismissal.

Wickets fell regularly for KKR in their reply, with Arshdeep Singh (3-19) removing Mandeep Singh and Anukul Roy in his first over, before later returning to claim the key scalp of Venkatesh Iyer (34).

The chase looked doomed at 80-5, but a typically big-hitting display from Russell (35 from 19) got them back in with a chance before Curran removed the danger man with a short ball that was skied to Sikandar Raza.

After Sunil Narine smashed a six, KKR were still in with an outside chance at 146-7 needing 46 runs from the last 24 balls, but rain was in the air at that point and the umpires called the players off with Punjab narrowly ahead via DLS and no resumption of play proved possible.
 

Kings hope to end play-off drought

With Curran, the England all-rounder who this season became the most expensive player in the IPL's 16-year history, in their ranks and Arshdeep looking impressive, Punjab look primed for a strong campaign.

Kagiso Rabada and Liam Livingstone are among the stars still to come into the team, with the Kings desperate to end an eight-year run without reaching the play-offs. 

So far, so good after they beat KKR for only the third time from their last nine IPL attempts despite the best efforts of Russell.

Narine negated

Narine has a superb IPL track record, having taken 152 wickets for KKR. He recorded a dot ball rate of 42.3 per cent last season, the best of any spinner in the IPL (min. 25 overs).

But the Kings played him well. Rajapaksa made his team's intentions clear by hitting 14 runs – including a six – from Narine's opening over and the spinner went on to leak 36 runs without claiming a wicket from his first three.

Narine did respond with the late wicket of Raza (16) but the batting team would have gladly settled for his final figures of 1-40 had they been offered.

Tournament leaders the Guyana Harpy Eagles are on the verge of a crushing defeat at the hands of the Leeward Islands Volcanoes in their final round game at Providence.

Kemol Savory and Veerasammy both scored half-centuries to help the Harpy Eagles, who started day three 48-1 trailing by 77 runs, post 267 in 79 overs in their second innings.

Savory finished 66* off 157 balls while Permaul made 65. Earlier, Kevlon Anderson and Kevin Sinclair both made 31.

Rakheem Cornwall finished with 4-58 off 22 overs for the Hurricanes.

Chasing just 143 for victory, the Hurricanes ended day three 81-1 with Kieran Powell on 47 and Keacy Carty on 17.

The Harpy Eagles entered the round with a 10.2-point lead over the Windward Islands Volcanoes, who are currently in the driver’s seat against the Barbados Pride at Queen’s Park Oval.

The Windward Islands Volcanoes will enter Saturday’s day four of their final round fixture against the Barbados Pride seven wickets away from a possible title-clinching win after restricting the Pride to 28-3 chasing 236 for victory at the Queen’s Park Oval.

The Volcanoes recovered excellently to make 225 off 73.2 overs after starting the day 14-4 with Kavem Hodge and Sunil Ambris at the wicket on four and zero, respectively.

The recovery effort was led by Ambris thanks to a crucial 141-ball 79 including nine fours and a six while pacer Ryan John and wicketkeeper Tevyn Walcott made valuable contributions of 37* and 35, respectively.

Jomel Warrican took 4-58 for the Pride while Akeem Jordan and Jair McAllister took two wickets, each.

Chasing 236 for victory, the Pride were 28-3 off 17 overs at stumps with Jonathan Drakes (9) and Chaim Holder (0) at the crease.

If the Windwards Volcanoes win and the Guyana Harpy Eagles lose to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, the Volcanoes could lift the title.

In the battle between bottom-placed teams, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force crushed Jamaica Scorpions by nine wickets with more than a day to spare in their West Indies Championships match at Torouba on Friday.

Needing 99 for victory, after dismissing the Scorpions for 275, TT Red Force cruised to 102-1 in 24.2 overs. Vikash Mohan was unbeaten on 44 and Darren Bravo 14 when victory was achieved. Kamil Pooran was the batsman dismissed for 39 by Jermaine Blackwood.

Bottom-of-the-table Jamaica had resumed from their overnight score of 199-5 with Abhijai Mansingh on 10 and Aldane Thomas seven when play began. The pair would add a further 53 to their overnight stand of eight but were dismissed in quick succession by Shannon Gabriel for 32 and 39, respectively.

The dismissals triggered a slide that saw the hapless Scorpions lose their last four wickets for just 23 runs slipping from 252-6 to 275 all out.

Gabriel ended with figures of 2-52. Imran Khan claimed the last three wickets - Jeavor Royal, Ojay Shields and Marquino Mindley - to finish with 4-47. Anderson Phillip took 2-46 and Bryan Charles 2-75.

Ruturaj Gaikwad's stunning knock was not enough as Chennai Super Kings suffered a five-wicket loss to reigning Indian Premier League champions Gujarat Titans in Friday's thrilling season opener. 

Gaikwad scored 92 from 50 balls at Narendra Modi Stadium, tallying up the third-highest score in an IPL season opener, after Brendon McCullum's 158 in 2008 and Rohit Sharma's 98 in 2015.

The Super Kings reached 178-7 from their 20 overs, with captain MS Dhoni hitting an unbeaten 14 from seven balls in the closing stages of their innings.

Titans debutant Kane Williamson suffered a knee injury while fielding and was unable to bat, but Gujarat made a strong start, reaching 37 from the first 23 deliveries before Wriddhiman Saha succumbed to Rajvardhan Hangargekar (3-36).

Shubman Gill (63) expertly anchored the innings, though Chennai looked well placed to push on for victory when Tushar Deshpande dismissed the opener in the 15th over, following on from Sai Sudharsan and Hardik Pandya losing their wickets.

Their chances of victory looked greater still when the dangerous Vijay Shankar (27 from 21) was brilliantly caught out by Mitchell Santner, leaving the Titans requiring 30 from 18 balls.

Yet an expensive over from Deepak Chahar saw Rashid Khan add 10 runs in the space of two deliveries, and similar slackness from Hangargekar enabled Rahul Tewatia to seal victory.

Gaikwad and Gill the stars of the show

Gaikwad's exceptional 92 came at a strike rate of 184. His knock included nine sixes, with a further four shots hitting the rope.

Gill, though, provided the steady pair of hands needed to help push the Titans to victory. His 63 came at a S/R of 175, the second-highest in IPL history (minimum 25 runs).

Ton up for Shami

It was the Super Kings' death bowling that let them down, and they will rue an opportunity missed to claim their first win over the Titans.

The champions' bowlers did not perform brilliantly either, but Mohammed Shami's 2-29 saw him move onto 101 IPL wickets. He is the 15th Indian and 19th bowler overall to reach that milestone.

South Africa boosted their chances of making the World Cup as captain Temba Bavuma's unbeaten 90 gave them a comfortable eight-wicket win over the Netherlands.

Needing to win both matches against the Dutch and hope Ireland lose at least one of their three matches against Bangladesh in May in order to qualify automatically for the World Cup, which will be held in India later this year, the Proteas eased to victory on Friday.

This ODI was the second of a three-match series that was supposed to take place in late 2021, but was postponed because of concerns over a COVID-19 variant. The first match ended with no result.

The importance of the match was reflected in the strong squad chosen by South Africa, with Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada included despite their imminent IPL commitments.

Nortje played a key role in restricting the Netherlands to 189 all out despite scores of 45 and 48 from Vikramijit Singh and Teja Nidamanuru respectively, taking 2/24 off his eight overs while Sisanda Magala and Tabraiz Shamsi picked up three wickets each.

It was the Netherlands' second-highest ODI score against South Africa, but the Proteas cruised to the winning total regardless as Bavuma's sublime innings (90 not out from 79 balls) helped them to victory.

Aiden Markram chipped in with a half-century off just 37 balls, though it was his captain who finished the job as Bavuma smashed the ball back past bowler Ryan Klein for four to seal the win.

Azeem Rafiq urged cricket to "understand the extent of its problems and address them" after a hearing into allegations of racism and discrimination at Yorkshire saw a number of charges upheld.

Former Yorkshire batter Michael Vaughan, who had a distinguished career as an Ashes-winning England captain, appeared at the hearing and was cleared of the accusations against him.

However, Gary Ballance and the club itself admitted charges they faced prior to a hearing at the start of March, and a number of fellow former Yorkshire players had cases against them proved.

The charges brought by the England and Wales Cricket board (ECB) were heard by its cricket discipline commission (CDC) at the start of March, and not all aspects were proved.

However, each of Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Richard Pyrah and Andrew Gale had at least one charge upheld against them. They chose not to appear at the disciplinary panel hearing.

Former spin bowler Rafiq blew the whistle on racism at Yorkshire in 2020 and welcomed Friday's outcome announcement.

Rafiq said: "Charges against seven of the eight defendants, including the widespread use of the 'P' word, have been upheld by the CDC today.

"This comes in addition to the other reports, panels and inquiries that found I and others suffered racial harassment and bullying while at Yorkshire.

"The issue has never been about individuals but the game as a whole. Cricket needs to understand the extent of its problems and address them.

"Hopefully, the structures of the game can now be rebuilt and institutionalised racism ended for good. It's time to reflect, learn and implement change."

Vaughan described the proceedings as "an inappropriate, inadequate and backwards step".

He added: "One of many reasons why I hold that view is because CDC proceedings are adversarial. They invite claim and counterclaim. They invite those involved to accuse each other of untruths or of lying."

Vaughan said there were "no winners" from the process – "and there are better ways – there have to be better ways – for cricket to move forward positively and effectively".

He said the case against him had "at times... brought me to the brink of falling out of love with cricket".

"I won't address here the toll that it has taken on me and my family," Vaughan added, "but I have no doubt that it has also been incredibly stressful for all of the others concerned. I hope that for them and for cricket, an inclusive healing process can now begin."