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Pakistan sensation Mohammad Hasnain wasted no time making an impact on his Sydney Thunder debut, becoming the first bowler in BBL history to take three wickets in their first over in the competition.He took wickets with his second, third and fifth balls, completing a triple-wicket maiden to steer his side to a 28-run win against Adelaide Strikers.Hasnain finished with 3 for 20 after Thunder had earlier taken control of the game batting first via Matthew Gilkes’ classy 93 helping them make 7 for 172.Related

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Hasnain had Matthew Short caught on the boundary, trapped Jake Weatherald lbw with his next, while a sharp Ben Cutting catch earned his third scalp with Jonathon Wells out for a duck, to leave the Strikers 3 for 25 after just three overs of their chase.Having pushed on to 3 for 50 with Matt Renshaw looking steady, Henry Hunt – making his T20 debut – danced down the pitch to Jason Sangha and was stumped. And Sangha struck again in his next over with Renshaw picking out deep midwicket, falling for 30 and leaving Strikers 5 for 65.But Strikers slowly worked their way into the chase with Harry Nielsen and Thomas Kelly adding 45 before a stunning direct-hit throw from Gilkes had the latter run out for 19 with the Strikers 6 for 110. Nielsen top-scored for the Thunder with 39 but the Strikers never threatened to reach their target, eventually rolled for 144.Gilkes, dropped second ball by Rashid Khan, batted all bar one ball of Thunder’s innings in making 93 from 57 balls, a knock that included nine fours and three sixes.Matthew Gilkes top-scored with 93•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Cutting – again opening the batting with Alex Hales, Alex Ross, Sam Whiteman and Tanveer Sangha all self-isolating – looked in great touch and lofted Fawad Ahmed back over his head for another six but fell in the next over trying to do the same thing to Wes Agar and he was caught for 34 to leave the Thunder 1 for 64.The in-form Jason Sangha, fresh from an unbeaten 91 on New Year’s Eve, went cheaply soon after as Rashid began working his magic with the ball.At 2 for 73 after 10 overs, Thunder were looking to get on their way but Sam Billings chipped one to long-on for just 11. But Gilkes took 17 off an Fawad over soon after and he brought his half-century up with a six as Ollie Davies helped out with 14 before Peter Siddle trapped him lbw.Gilkes continued to thrive, taking three consecutive fours off Rashid and had a century in his sights after clearing the boundary off Agar before but holing out to deep midwicket. The win moved Thunder to third on the BBL table, while Strikers are seventh after just one win.Thunder captain Chris Green said the side’s young players had stepped up in the absence of their more experienced teammates who have been sidelined after contracting Covid-19.”They’ve actually gained a lot of experience since last year and the year before … Matt Gilkes, Jason Sangha, Ollie Davies in particular,” Green told . “Those guys have really come to the party when they’ve got their opportunity so really proud of their efforts.”

Nine Covid-19 cases in the Canada Under-19 camp has ended their World Cup campaign in the Caribbean, with their remaining two Plate games now cancelled. Canada were scheduled to play the matches on Saturday and Sunday, but their infected players will now go into isolation.Canada were scheduled to play two games in the Plate stage playoffs to determine ranks 13 to 16 in the competition. With their game against Scotland on Saturday now cancelled, Scotland will progress to the 13th/14th playoff against the winner of Uganda vs PNG.Canada’s other game – the 15th/16th playoff against the loser of Uganda vs PNG on Sunday – also stands cancelled.Related

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“”We are incredibly disappointed to have to cancel two ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup games due to COVID-19 at this stage of the event. We were expecting to see some positive cases throughout the event and to date, these have been managed in accordance with our biosafety plan without impacting on fixtures,” Chris Tetley, ICC head of events, said in a media release. “However, with so many players from the Canadian team testing positive, it will not be possible to stage these games.”The players are now self-isolating and will receive full support from the event medical team under the guidance of the Bio-Safety Advisory Group.”As per the tournament’s playing conditions, players who test positive at the competition are expected to serve at least seven days of quarantine. Canada’s positive cases are the fifth instance of players testing positive at the World Cup. Four Zimbabwe players had first tested positive before the tournament had started, followed by five cases in the India squad – who have all recovered for the knockouts – and then two players tested positive for West Indies, before another India player tested positive on Friday.

Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal called Afghanistan the hungrier of the two sides following the visitors’ seven-wicket win in the third ODI in Chattogram. Tamim’s frustration stems from his side’s meek surrender in a match that carried ten World Cup Super League points even though it was a dead rubber as far as the series was concerned.Tamim has been stressing on treating every game equally since Bangladesh won the ODI series against Sri Lanka last May. There too Bangladesh played poorly in the third match. He repeated the message ahead of the third ODI in Zimbabwe in July, which Bangladesh closed out successfully.On Monday, they were bundled out for 192, before losing with 59 balls to spare.”Losing back-to-back wickets makes it difficult,” Tamim said. “Three run-outs also didn’t help. If we could have managed 250, we could have probably had a better chance. Credit goes to Afghanistan. They were hungrier than us to win the last game. Rashid [Khan] bowled very well today although we played their spinners really well in the first two games. [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz batted really well.””I wanted the team to finish [the series] on a high and get the maximum points,” Tamim said. Bangladesh currently sit atop the points table, but they have challenging assignments up ahead, and Tamim wants his team to aim for a higher position on the World Cup Super League table, not just be satisfied with the World Cup qualification. The top eight teams on the points table automatically qualify for the global event, with the others facing a qualification tournament.”You don’t know about the future,” Tamim said. “We are playing next against South Africa and Ireland in their conditions. We are playing against England too, so there’s nothing guaranteed. You have to make sure you get maximum points from every opportunity.”If we win one or two [matches], we will probably qualify for the World Cup. [But] it is not my target. My personal target as a captain is to finish in the top four. If you want to claim that you have come to win the 2023 World Cup, it wouldn’t make sense if you qualify as the seventh or eighth team.”His opposite number Hashmatullah Shahidi was glad Afghanistan could grab ten points after conceding the series. Afghanistan end this series at No. 4 on the points table.”Every game was important for us in this ODI series,” Shahidi said. “We were disappointed after the first two games, but that happens in cricket. These ten points will make our future a little bit easier. I am happy how we played.”Shahidi credited the spinners and fielding efforts but he had special praise for Gurbaz who struck an unbeaten hundred.Rahmanullah Gurbaz struck an unbetaen 106•BCB

“I feel very proud of the way we played in this game,” he said. “Gulbadin [Naib] took a great catch [to get rid of Litton Das]. The way Rashid and [Mohammad] Nabi bowled, the three run-outs, all of these were turning points.”The way Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Riaz Hassan started… Gurbaz got injured in the last game, so he was still not feeling good yesterday. When he told me that he is available, I gave him confidence. I told him, ‘You are the one I have belief in.’ I told him that whenever he goes out there, he should try to score a hundred.”He is a match-winner. Whenever he gets a start, he makes it big. We have a bundle of youngsters in the team. Ibrahim Zadran is technically really good. Riaz Hassan gave us a good start today. I am sure they will all play well for Afghanistan in the future.”Tamim too reserved special praise for Litton who had scores of 136 and 86 in the last two ODIs. Litton has turned around his form since the T20 World Cup, scoring hundreds against Pakistan and New Zealand in Tests, and finishing as the team’s highest scorer in this ODI series.”It is really pleasing to see him shining,” Tamim said. “I hope he can continue to do so in the near future. He is a quality player. I think he batted exceptionally well in the second game and today. He was very calm at the start but he never missed an opportunity to score runs.”You had to bat as if you were batting in a Test match because we were playing on a grassy pitch for the first time at home. The ball does a bit. He played the three spinners with a lot of comfort.”

Steffan Jones, who had served as Rajasthan Royals’ fast-bowling coach during the 2019 edition of the IPL, has been brought back by the franchise, this time as the high-performance fast-bowling coach, ahead of the 2022 chapter of the tournament.”Steffan has been closely associated with the franchise over the past few years so he understands the culture perfectly, and brings with him a very able coaching style, which has been appreciated by both players and management in the past,” Royals director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara said. “We are delighted to welcome him back to the franchise in his new role, wherein he will be working with our bowlers and providing support to them throughout the year, and we’re confident his expertise can guide us to newer heights.”Jones, the 48-year-old Welshman, “will be responsible for providing high quality training, guidance and support to all bowlers who are part of the Royals’ set-up throughout the year, with a focus on the off-season and in the build up to the IPL season,” Royals said in a statement. He will start during the pre-season camp in Nagpur, from March 7 to 10, and stay with the squad during the tournament.”With a plethora of talented bowlers in our ranks, I’m looking forward to working with them round the year and preparing them to peak and excel when the season comes,” Jones said.The statement said that Jones, who played first-class cricket in the English county circuit between 1997 and 2011, would also be “inputting” at the Royals academies, and “aid in technical integration of the facilities, while also utilizing technology and innovation to support the overall enhancement and growth of both players and the academies”.

An undefeated hundred from England opener Alex Lees put Durham in charge of their LV= Insurance County Championship fixture against Glamorgan in Cardiff as the visitors reached 348 for 3, a first-innings lead of 114.Much of the previous two days have been lost to weather but Durham have put themselves in a position where they could push for a win.Lees was well supported by captain Scott Borthwick who made 64 and David Bedingham who made a quick-fire half-century as just three wickets fell on the third day of this match. Durham will resume their first innings on the final day and will need quick runs and quick wickets if they are to claim a positive result.Lees, back with Durham after making his Test debut last month in the Caribbean, looked in excellent touch on his way to 163 not out. He took his guard outside off stump when the Glamorgan seamers came around the wicket and this neutralised much of their threat, although there were two very good shouts for lbw early in his innings that were turned down.Michael Jones and Sean Dickson were both dismissed by Timm van der Gugten who bowled with decent pace and late movement. The other Glamorgan seamers found success harder to come by and although there were times when Lees played and missed, edges were not found and appeals were not upheld.With the short boundary on the Grandstand side of the ground and a quick outfield Glamorgan’s bowlers did a good job to keep things tight even with wickets hard to come by. The best chance for a further dismissal in the afternoon session was when van der Gugten induced a leading edge from Borthwick that ballooned just over the head of Kiran Carlson in the covers.Durham reached the tea interval at 163 for 2 with Lees and Borthwick both in control. Lees reached his 18th first-class century from 226 balls, getting to the landmark with a lovely drive for four through wide mid-on off Callum Taylor.Borthwick passed his fifty from 93 balls as he and Lees shared a stand worth 147 for the third wicket. It was the seventh bowler Glamorgan used, Andrew Salter, who got the breakthrough when Borthwick drove one into the hands of Sam Northeast at midwicket.There was a changed of gears once Lees reached his hundred with the scoring rate ticking upwards, but it was when Bedingham came to the crease that the push for the win really started. The South African continued his fantastic form for Western Province in his first match of this season with Durham as he passed fifty from just 56 balls. His last three first-class innings before this match were 81, 71 and 199. He was on 74 from 78 balls at the close.There are 104 overs scheduled for Sunday and the quick rate that Durham put on their runs in the evening session has set up an interesting final day.

Abhishek Sharma came into the game against Gujarat Titans as the third-highest run-scorer (138) in the powerplay in IPL 2022. But couple that with his strike rate in that phase (120) and you get a clearer picture. He’s just managing not to get out early. He needed to do more.Earlier this season, Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody insisted that people were being too quick to judge the 21-year-old opener; that he would go on to play several match-winning knocks for his team. Nobody expected him to take down Rashid Khan though. During his 42-ball 65, Abhishek pulverised one of the leading legspinners in the world for 34 runs off 15 balls, including three huge sixes and a sparkling four over covers after picking his googly.Related

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“There was a calmness to the way he played,” Daniel Vettori said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out. “And it felt like he picked up the length. You talk about the great players and their ability to pick up the length, and as soon as Rashid Khan got slightly full, he latched onto it. I think he hit him for three sixes, and they all were just from the case of extending out his front foot and getting to the pitch of the ball. I think Chris Gayle or Suresh Raina have had similar sort of results against him and not many others, and it was through that style of being able to reach the ball.”But there’s more to it than just that slight overpitch, because he has overpitched to other batsmen and they haven’t been able to get on to it. I just thought it was how stable he was, and the fact that whenever he missed, Abhishek Sharma was there to capitalise on it, and when he got a little bit short, he punched him over cover, but he also never missed an opportunity to take a single.”Did being team-mates help Abhishek understand the Rashid threat better? They played together for three seasons (2019-2021) at Sunrisers. Maybe, Chris Lynn said, and then laid out the blueprint for tackling the Afghanistan ace.”Well, I think, generally when you come up against someone like Rashid Khan, you try and just keep him out of the game, and I think when he hasn’t taken a wicket in his first two overs, you’ve got the luxury of going a bit harder, and you’ve got a platform,” Lynn said. “The moment he takes a wicket in his first two overs, […] obviously he’s a lot more dangerous, his field settings change, and your mindset changes. So you look at your none for 35, your none for 30, and that’s a win.”Vettori also weighed in. “You hear batters talk all the time, ‘I can’t pick that guy and another guy can pick him’, and you just don’t understand why that’s the case, because they’re both very similar batters, but their comfort level with facing someone like that [is different]. Whether Abhishek Sharma got it from the nets, the experiences maybe through conversations, maybe Rashid Khan was Abhishek Sharma’s confidante, and they exchanged notes, and they got to the point where Abhishek felt comfortable, but it was just a brilliant innings.”Abhishek laid the platform for Sunrisers’ total of 195 for 6 with his second half-century of the season. He now has a tally of 285 at a strike rate of 131, which puts him on fifth place among the highest run-getters in IPL 2022.”He’s young, he’s fearless, he’s got no fear of failure,” Lynn said. “And there’re some guys in the change room, the more you talk to them about how the bowler’s trying to get you out, it’s worse for them, so it’ll be interesting to understand Sharma’s thought process and preparation leading up to a special innings like this.”I’ve played with plenty of guys at the other end, and you say, did you pick that ball, and they’ve got no idea, they’re just playing off instinct and hit through, or premeditate, which is okay by my books, but again that fear of failure is not there with them. They just play it how they see it, and don’t even worry about the placement of the ball. All they worry about is hitting it out the middle of the bat because they know they’re strong enough to clear the fence.”

Sussex 376 and 86 for 2 (Clark 32*, Carter 22*) trail Glamorgan 494 (Ingram 178, Byrom 176) trail by 32 runsDespite a flurry of early morning wickets pegging them back, Glamorgan have finished the third day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match against Sussex with a chance to push for victory.The day started with Eddie Byrom and Colin Ingram taking their outstanding partnership past 300 before four quick wickets before lunch brought Sussex back into the contest.Glamorgan’s lower order took their score to 494, a first-innings lead of 118, with Byrom making a career-best 176 and Ingram dismissed for 178.Two early wickets, and Ingram picking up a third from the last ball of the day, has left Sussex with work to do to save this game, still 29 runs behind Glamorgan going into the final day.Having resumed with their partnership on 253, Ingram and Byrom took their stand to 328, the highest ever stand for the second wicket for Glamorgan, going past the 291 put on by Nick Selman and Marnus Labuschagne against the same opposition in 2019.It was a pretty miserable first 90 minutes of the day for Sussex with wicket-keeper Tim Seifert dropping a simple chance to dismiss Byrom for 126 being the lowlight, but the cluster of wickets before the lunch interval brought them back into the game.It was Ingram’s wicket which ended the partnership with Byrom, Henry Crocombe the bowler to make the breakthrough. Ingram’s attempted pull shot caught was at mid-wicket with Tom Alsop the fielder.Having waited so long for a second wicket Sussex had Glamorgan five down in quick time. Sam Northeast was bowled first ball with a lovely yorker as two wickets fell in as many balls. It was Crocombe who also got the fourth Glamorgan wicket with Kiran Carlson given out caught behind. Crocombe would go on to claim a career-best 4 for 84 in the Glamorgan first innings.When Sean Hunt trapped Billy Root lbw for 5 Glamorgan had lost four wickets in the space of 17 runs and were still 28 runs behind the Sussex innings.The sixth Glamorgan wicket fell with Sussex still four runs in front, Hunt bowling James Weighell for 16 and the home side were in danger of squandering the fantastic position they found themselves in overnight. Some excellent lower-order contributions took them to a lead of 118, one that could be telling at the end of this game.Byrom was dismissed just after Glamorgan had claimed maximum batting points but Michael Neser and Andrew Salter hung around with Chris Cooke who was batting at 10 with a runner due to the calf injury he sustained on the first day.The evening session saw Sussex attempting to erase the first-innings deficit on a pitch that had the odd ball keeping low. Sussex lost both openers early on to add more pressure, Alsop and Tom Haines both falling with the score on 29.First-innings centurion, Oli Carter was at the crease at the close but Tom Clark failed to keep out a ball from Ingram that trickled into his stumps to have him bowled for 34 by the last ball of the day.The draw is still the favourite result, but a Glamorgan victory is the close second.

Meg Lanning has stepped down as captain of Victoria, handing over to allrounder Sophie Molineux.Lanning took on the state captaincy in 2014 as a 22-year-old but Australia commitments have limited the number of appearances she has been able to make in the WNCL.Although there is a window at the start of the upcoming season with Australia not playing internationals in late September, as they have in recent summers, further international duty will limit Lanning’s matches.Related

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“It’s been a huge honour to captain Victoria and I love representing my state,” Lanning said. “The Victorian squad has some fantastic young leaders and I’m excited to continue working with them in the seasons ahead.”Molineux, who also captains Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL, is currently outside of the national team having had her 2021-22 season cut short by injury then losing her central contract earlier this year.”Coming from country Victoria it’s a privilege to be named captain of the state,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of captaining the Renegades and am looking forward to the years ahead with Victoria.”Playing with and learning from Meg since I started at Victoria has been a great experience, she has an incredible understanding of the game, hopefully I’m able to take some of that into my own game.”Cricket Victoria’s head of female cricket Sharelle McMahon said Lanning endorsed Molineux as the outstanding candidate.”We’re fortunate to have Meg’s leadership skills to support Sophie and the full squad in years to come,” she said. “Sophie has done a fantastic job leading the Renegades and has long been seen as a leader within Victorian cricket. This is an excellent opportunity to further her leadership skills with our playing group.”Nicole Faltum did a great job stepping into the role last season and will continue to play an important role supporting Sophie.”The expanded WNCL, which will now feature teams playing each other twice, begins in September 23.

A career-best four-wicket burst from Renuka Singh followed by clinical half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma helped India dominate the second ODI for a 10-wicket win and gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.Chasing 174, India made sure they learnt their lessons from their first outing when they scrapped home to a four-wicket victory chasing 172. Mandhana and Shafali looked much assured with their strokes as the duo piled on an unbeaten 174-run stand to see India through with 24.2 overs to spare. While Mandhana finished on 94 not out off 83 balls, Shafali remained unbeaten on career-best and run-a-ball 71.India’s chase was also the highest target successfully chased by a team without losing a wicket in women’s ODIs.It had rained heavily in Palleleke on the eve of the game but the weather cleared for an on-time start. Expecting the surface to offer something for the quick bowlers early, Harmanpreet Kaur’s decision to bowl was vindicated with Renuka finding her lengths from the get-go. She rattled the Sri Lanka top order with three quick strikes and eventually finished with a career-best 4 for 28, improving on her three-wicket haul from the opening ODI.She started by breaching Hasini Perera’s defences off just the fourth ball of the innings, to remove her for a duck. The fast bowler then sent back 16-year-old debutant Vishmi Gunaratne, who took 14 balls for her three runs, before trapping Harshitha Samarawickrama lbw for a three-ball duck as Sri Lanka were reduced to 11 for 3 inside seven overs.Chamari Athapaththu, who for a change came in at No. 3, then provided some solidity to the innings. She had a slice of luck when on 3 she edged a full delivery to slip. There was a bit of confusion about whether or not it was a bump ball, and eventually, the third umpire upheld the on-field umpire’s soft signal of not out.Renuka Singh picked up three early wickets to put Sri Lanka on the back foot•Sri Lanka Cricket

Athapaththu soon opened up her shoulders, thrashing Pooja Vastrakar along the ground through the covers and then lofting Renuka over the same region. However, her luck soon ran out when she flicked a harmless Meghna Singh half-volley on the pads straight to Shafali at deep fine leg for 27.Vastrakar and Co adopted the short-ball policy and had the batters ducking and swaying for cover. Anushka Sanjeewani and Nilakshi de Silva held fort for a bit before Sanjeewani squeezed out a full-length delivery from Deepti Sharma to the on side and went about wandering carelessly. Wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia was quick to spot the opportunity and sprung across to flick the ball back onto the stumps, catching the batter short with the bat in the air.Another needless run out sent back Kavisha Dilhari as Sri Lanka slipped to 81 for 6 in the 25th over. Ama Kanchana and de Silva did stage some sort of a comeback adding 42 runs for the seventh wicket but they still found run-scoring tough. Deepti’s two wickets off the last two balls of the innings made sure the hosts were bowled out.Kanchana finished as Sri Lanka’s top-scorer with an unbeaten 47 off 83 balls while de Silva scored 32 off 62. In all, Sri Lanka hit just 11 fours and faced 191 dot balls. Two run outs too, did not help their cause.India, in stark contrast, faced just 55 dot balls and hit 15 fours and two sixes. Both Mandhana and Shafali were watchful initially but made sure they rotated the strike while collecting the odd boundaries. Mandhana got going with a couple of fours off Inoka Ranaweera before Shafali too got into the act by thumping Achini Kulasuriya over her head.The duo reached the 50-run mark in the ninth over and thereon collected a boundary nearly every over. In between, Sri Lanka gave two lives each to both openers. Shafali was dropped on 39 when she chipped a simple chance to long-on, and then again on 55 at deep midwicket. Mandhana was given a chance soon after she raised her 23rd ODI fifty by Ranaweera off her own bowling and then again on 77.Once both batters reached their fifties, they took the Sri Lanka attack to the cleaners. Mandhana even had a shot at completing her century when she smashed a six to go to 94 with India needing three to win. But a wide down the leg side from Kanchana spoiled her hopes of reaching the landmark. It was Shafali who sealed the win with a single to cover.Renuka was named the Player of the Match. The win also saw India move up on the Women’s Championship points table to second place with four points, behind South Africa, while Sri Lanka are on fourth position with just two points from five games.

Grant Stewart hit a last-ball six to give the Kent Spitfires a stunning three-wicket win over the Yorkshire Vikings, in a Royal London Cup thriller at Canterbury.Kent went into the final over needing 11 to keep their hopes of qualifying alive and Stewart declined a single off Matthew Revis’s penultimate ball to leave everything riding on the final delivery. The all-rounder then pulled Revis through backward square leg to a huge cheer from the Canterbury crowd, leaving Kent on 297 for seven.Yorkshire had posted 282 for six from 45 overs, Harry Duke top-scoring with 85, Will Fraine hitting 68 and debutant Finlay Bean 64. After century stands for the first two wickets, Joe Denly took three for 37 to rein Yorkshire in and a Duckworth-Lewis adjustment for a rain delay meant Kent were set a target of 297.Ben Compton hit 81 and Denly 61 but after reaching 189 for two, miserly Yorkshire bowling saw the run rate spiral above 12 an over until Stewart’s drastic late intervention.Related

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Denly said: “They’re moments you dream of as a cricketer, hitting a six off the last ball to win a game for your team. Credit to Grant, he works very hard at his batting and especially his power game and moments like that make it all worthwhile. If there was one player I had to pick to hit a six off the last ball, I’d have Grant Stewart every day. He’s built for it, he’s pure muscle, I don’t think there’s an ounce of fat on him.”A crowd of over 2,000 at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence was boosted by around 80 Afghan refugees and Kent even arranged for an interpreter to broadcast announcements in Pashto.The hosts needed to win to stand any chance of reaching the knock-out stages and with clouds hovering over Canterbury for the first time in what seemed like weeks, they chose to field, but struggled to make any impact early on.An elegant glance for two from Gilchrist took Fraine to 50, but the breakthrough finally came in the 22nd over when he was lbw to Hamid Qadri.It was an isolated success for Kent. Duke was on 64 when he was put down by Nathan Gilchrist off his own bowling and he put on 109 for the second wicket with Bean.However, just as it began to rain, Denly tilted the equation with two wickets in three deliveries. Bean drove him to Qadri and was caught. Then, with a hundred there for the taking, Duke skied Denly to Alex Blake. When the umpires brought the players off it was the first time there’d been a rain delay at Canterbury this year, but play resumed after an hour with the game reduced to 45 overs per side.Hill made only five before he was lbw to Denly and Jonathan Tattershall holed out to Stewart in the next over and was caught on the boundary by Nathan Gilchrist.The rain then returned, the umpires conferred and one of them signalled for the players to go back off, yet after a cry of “get on with it!” from the crowd and with the rain easing to a drizzle they changed their minds and stayed on. Matthew Revis duly drove Navdeep Saini to Denly and was caught for three, before Matthew Waite and Dom Bess restored some momentum with 31 and 13 not out respectively.Kent’s chase got off to the worst possible start when Joey Evison was out to the first ball of the innings, caught behind off Waite, but Robinson responded by racing past 50 with a six off Tom Loten that cleared the flats on the Old Dover Road side of the ground. Although he fell for 59 to the same bowler in his next over, caught by Revis at square leg, Compton and Denly put on 98 for the next wicket, their stand only ending when Denly miscued trying to pull Revis and was caught by Waite.Revis then had Alex Blake caught by Bess for three and Kent went 29 balls without a boundary as the pressure mounted. Compton was finally bowled by Waite attempting to reverse sweep and with Waite’s 37th over going for just four, the hosts needed 36 from 18 and then 23 from 12. Harry Finch was out for 42, pulling Bess to Waite but Stewart smashed Waite back over his head for six, leaving Kent needing 11 from the final over.Harry Podmore sliced Revis’ first ball for four but hit the next down George Hill’s throat. Qadri took a single from the third, the fourth was a dot and Stewart declined a single off the fifth before creaming Revis for six to an eruption of joy from the home fans.Yorkshire’s assistant coach Ali Maiden, who is leading Yorkshire in this tournament, said: “I just hope Rev doesn’t take that too personally and he can come back from the experience positively. The plan the lads had set was what he actually executed. The guy connects and it goes for six. It’s just one of those things.”