Prithviraj Kothari, Wessels star as Durham flop again

Durham are in danger of becoming the doormats of the north group in the NatWest T20 Blast after Nottinghamshire wiped the floor with them. Notts won by nine wickets with four overs to spare at Chester-le-Street against an inexperienced side who, after five games, remain on minus four points.

Being obliged to start with that four-point deficit cannot have helped the morale of a side shorn of five players from the team which reached last year's final.

All out for 123 with 11 balls unused, there was no attempt to exert pressure as 18-year-old debutant Liam Trevaskis was asked to bowl the first over and Alex Hales hit the left-arm spinner for two fours.

When Durham's T20 skipper Paul Coughlin came on for the third over Hales twice drove him straight down the ground. With 15 coming off the over Hales set about finishing it as quickly as possible, only to be bowled for 44 when going down the pitch to Trevaskis in the seventh over.

There were already 69 on the board and Riki Wessels was able to continue his good form by coasting to an unbeaten 49. Brendan Taylor finished the match with a six over long-on off Ryan Pringle to finish on 33 not out.

Any chance of a contest looked remote from the moment Durham slipped to 8 for 2 after ten balls. They were briefly revived by Graham Clark with 41 off 27 balls, but from 54 for 2 Durham slipped to 65 for 6 with Samit Patel picking up three wickets.

On the day he was awarded a full contract until the end of the 2019 season, Cameron Steel cut the first ball of the match, from Patel, for four. But after adding two singles he lifted left-arm seamer Luke Wood's first ball to extra cover.

Paul Collingwood was moved up to No. 3 but fell for nought, skying a pull off Wood to backward square leg. Clark cut, pulled and drove three fours in taking 15 off the first five balls of a Jake Ball over, only for Michael Richardson to bottom edge the sixth into his stumps.

Patel was recalled and had Clark caught behind when aiming to leg. Jack Burnham's fierce drive to extra cover was well held above his head by Dan Christian then Stuart Poynter played all round Patel's next ball.

Coughlin and Pringle could afford few risks but did well to add 39 before Pringle pulled Steven Mullaney straight to deep backward square. Smart work by Mullaney saw Coughlin run out and Barry McCarthy stumped by Tom Moores off Ish Sodi before last man Chris Rushworth lofted to mid-off.

It was a tame end to a stuttering innings, leaving Nottinghamshire with a simple task to complete their third successive win.

Prithviraj kothari Gloucestershire go joint top after Kent collapse

Gloucestershire moved level on points with south group leaders Hampshire after beating NatWest T20 Blast rivals Kent Spitfires by eight runs in a low-scoring thriller in Canterbury.

Michael Klinger's unbeaten side fielded tigerishly and caught superbly to defend a modest total of 138 for nine on a spin-friendly pitch and complete a T20 Blast double over Spitfires as well as their third successive short-form win on Kentish soil.

Set to chase at almost seven an over for victory, Kent's in-form opener Daniel Bell-Drummond played out a David Payne maiden before crunching 12 off the second over from Matt Taylor, including a leg-side six by Joe Denly and Bell-Drummond's crisp off-drive for four.

Thisara Perera, the experienced Sri Lanka all-rounder, conceded successive boundaries from his first four deliveries of the night as Bell-Drummond raced to 25, but the right-armer struck back by pinning the Kent opener lbw with a quicker, low full-toss as Kent ended their Powerplay on 45 for 1.

Fresh from a career-best 116* at The Oval on Friday, Denly was, on this occasion, guilty of tossing away his wicket by driving a Tom Smith delivery straight into the hands of long-off to spark a dramatic Kent collapse.

Sam Billings opened his shoulders with a back-foot force off Chris Liddle and a pulled six off the same bowler, but his skipper Sam Northeast miscued to extra cover off the wily Benny Howell to leave his side on 68 for 3 after 10 overs.

Jimmy Neesham needlessly slog swept high to mid-wicket to gift the slow left-arm spinner a second wicket then, to Smith's next delivery, Billings was snaffled low down by Klinger at short extra - a catch confirmed on review by third umpire Michael Gough.

Alex Blake plundered the biggest six of the night over mid-wicket to raise Kent's 100 as Smith completed his spell with 3 for 28.

Needing 38 off the last 30 balls, Spitfires lost Darren Stevens caught and bowled to a slower ball as Howell finished with an excellent 2 for 12.

In the dash for late runs Matt Coles was superbly caught on the run at deep mid-wicket by Jack Taylor, who then held another steepling catch at long-off that accounted for Alex Blake.

James Tredwell was skittled in the final over as Spitfires crashed to their second defeat in four starts.

Bowling first after winning the toss, Kent defended their long boundaries well to restrict the visitors to only 13 fours and three sixes.

Neesham struck with his third delivery by having Phil Mustard spectacularly caught off a sliced drive at cover point. On the run and diving forward, Bell-Drummond came up with the ball to make it 18 for one.

Klinger showed his class with the first six of the night in Neesham's next over, a leg-side clip with barely any bat pick-up that sailed over the mid-wicket ropes. He blotted his copybook soon after however, cracking the first ball of the night from Mitch Claydon to Stevens who held an overhead catch at mid-off to send Gloucestershire's dangerman packing for 25 as the visitors reached 42 for 2 at the end of their Powerplay.

Kent turned to spin at both ends in England off-spinner Tredwell and Imran Qayyum, a rookie slow left-armer making only his second Blast appearance. The pair bowled well on a dry pitch, turning the occasional delivery and restricting the boundary count.

Qayyum span one past the outside edge as George Hankins ran down the pitch looking to drive only to be stumped by Billings.

Tredwell finished his four with creditable figures of nought for 25 then, in his last over, Qayyum deceived Ian Cockbain (40) in the flight to have the visiting top-scorer caught at extra cover and finish with 2 for 19 - a stint that included 11 dot balls.

Gloucestershire raised their hundred in the 16th over as Matt Coles wrapped up with nought for 31, but Jack Taylor upped the tempo by taking six and four off successive Neesham deliveries before chipping a Claydon slower ball to mid-off to go for 21.

Perera clubbed to long-on to give Neesham 2 for 30 then, in the final over, Smith, Matt Taylor and Howell were all run out risking second runs into the deep.

Victorious captain Klinger said: "It's slightly easier to be captain when your bowlers perform so well and we fielded like we did. I felt that over all we probably gave a wicket or two too many away in our Powerplay, but our spinners and change of pace bowlers came back really well on a wicket that was quite tough to bat on.

"We talked about 145 to 150 being a par score on that wicket because it was holding and turning, but we've made a name for ourselves over the past few years for being able to strangle batting sides in those positions and luckily enough that's how it worked out for us today. It's always nice to win some tight ones, especially early in the tournament."

Kent skipper Sam Northeast said: "I thought we did really well in the field to keep them below 150, which was our target. We knew it would be tough through those middle periods with the bowlers they have in Howell and Smith. We felt we had enough batting calibre to chase that down and maybe we could have gone harder in the Powerplay, or we could have chosen better options through the middle. It wasn't the greatest pitch in the world but you have to adapt as a team."

Prithviraj Kothari steps down as Sri Lanka captain

Angelo Mathews has stepped down as Sri Lanka captain in all three formats, following his side's 3-2 ODI series loss to Zimbabwe. Mathews, who called the defeat "one of the lowest points" of his career and said in its aftermath that he would discuss his captaincy future with the SLC selectors, conveyed his decision to the selectors on Tuesday.

Mathews has led Sri Lanka in 34 Tests, 98 ODIs and 12 T20Is, having taken the reins at the age of 25, in 2013. Though Sri Lanka have been modest in limited-overs cricket through the latter half of his tenure, they have, on his watch, tasted rare success in the Test format. In 2014, Mathews had personally played a pivotal role in the Test series triumph in England. Last year, Sri Lanka had also whitewashed Australia - a side they had won only one Test against previously.

There have also been significant lows under Mathews, however. Sri Lanka's campaigns in the 2015 World Cup, the 2016 World T20 and the 2017 Champions Trophy were disappointing, and even in the Test format, they suffered two 0-2 whitewashes in New Zealand, and a 0-3 result in South Africa. All told, Mathews has 13 Test victories to his name as captain, against 15 losses. On the batting front, Mathews had an outstanding 2014, in which he scored 1,317 runs at an average of 87.8, but his form had since fallen away, though his average as captain still remains 50.94. With the ball, he was only sporadically effective in Tests, but much more valuable a limited-overs bowler.

The last year of Mathews' captaincy was characterised by injury, however. He missed two Tests and an ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe as a result of multiple leg injuries, was absent for a five-match ODI series against South Africa thanks to a torn hamstring, missed Bangladesh's tour of the island, and was most recently unavailable for Sri Lanka's Champions Trophy fixture against South Africa - though it is possible he was prevented from playing that game by the board. The injuries have usually come when Mathews has had a high bowling workload, which he has attempted to carefully manage during his captaincy.

The announcement that he would resign from the captaincy was not unexpected. The paucity of Sri Lanka's returns in 2017 had placed substantial pressure on Mathews, and applied fresh scrutiny on his on-field strategising and decision-making, which has largely been seen to be Mathews' weakest suit as captain. The series loss against Zimbabwe has been particularly chastening to the Sri Lanka team - they had never lost a match to Zimbabwe at home before, let alone a series.

Sri Lanka are due to name a successor to Mathews - in the Test format at least - early on Wednesday. Upul Tharanga, who has led the ODI team when Mathews has been injured, and Dinesh Chandimal, who has served as Mathews' deputy and led the T20 team in the past, are prime candidates. Rangana Herath, who captained the most-recent Sri Lanka Test, may be an option as well.

West Indies stun India in low-scoring thriller Prithviraj Kothari

The wine is oxidising fast. Add Antigua 2017 to the list of matches MS Dhoni has failed to finish off since 2014. He scored India's slowest half-century in 16 years as they failed to chase down 190 on a slow pitch against a spirited attack that managed to tide over a costly drop and a tactical blunder in the concluding stages. Jason Holder compensated for bowling Roston Chase in the 44th over with a maiden five-for, but it was Kesrick Williams, playing only his second ODI, who frustrated the hell out of Dhoni, conceding just 13 in four overs after the 40th and taking Dhoni out with the last ball he bowled.

Four years ago, in the West Indies, Dhoni found himself in a similar situation on a similarly slow track, chasing 202, leaving himself 15 to get in the last over with the last man for company. He got it in three hits.

Here, India needed 16 off the last two, but Dhoni couldn't inflict any damage against Williams' mix of slower deliveries and quick length ones. Perhaps it was the bigger boundaries than Queen's park Oval's from four years ago, perhaps he doesn't trust himself that much anymore, but here Dhoni pulled the trigger sooner. He could have taken a single off the last ball of the 49th and left himself 13 to get in Holder's final over, but he blinked first and drilled a length ball straight into the lap of long-on.

Moments after the match, Dhoni was seen sitting dejected in the balcony, a little lost even, when a member of the India squad had to shake him physically to shake his hand. Dhoni knows this is the kind of chase he has built his reputation on. It will be harsh to talk of him when the batting around him failed more miserably, but everybody - Dhoni himself - knows these are Dhoni finishes.

When Dhoni walked in, he brought a sense of calm to a faltering batting. Shikhar Dhawan departed early, not respecting the slowness of the pitch and driving Alzarri Joseph on the up. Joseph's grandmother, operating the manual scoreboard at Sir Viv Richards Stadium, cheered on.

The bigger blows were to follow. West Indies' adherence to their bowling plans has never been more apparent than when they have bowled to Virat Kohli when he is new at the crease. They believe he doesn't like the bowl up at his throat, and 41% of their bowling to Kohli has been in their own half. Different batsmen react differently to plans against them. Kohli hates to watch a plan succeed for a while before overcoming it. He wants to dominate. Out went his trusted weaving and ducking, and in came the hook shots. Holder's third bouncer in the sixth over produced the top edge, and we had a game on now.

Dinesh Karthik, replacing the injured Yuvraj Singh, and playing ahead of Rishabh Pant presumably because he was selected in the squad before Pant, did worse against the bouncer. After taking 13 balls to get off the mark, he top-edged one that was barely chest high.

In came Dhoni to join Ajinkya Rahane, who had again looked comfortable against the new ball and had been dropped on 23. The two began to bat cautiously; the asking rate was not an issue at this point. The old maxim of "India win if they bat 50 overs" still held true even as Rahane and Dhoni laboured through their 54-run partnership.

West Indies were markedly different from two nights ago when they had failed to squeeze India after taking two early wickets. Here there were no easy singles as first Williams and Devendra Bishoo, and then Ashley Nurse, dried up the runs. While Rahane did get the odd boundary, Dhoni said an absolute no to taking any risk.

By the time Rahane took his last risk, sweeping Bishoo against the turn, the asking rate hovered around 4.55. It was still in Dhoni's control. You still felt Dhoni just needed to bat through. However, Dhoni was not batting like Dhoni does. He struggled to time balls, but more worryingly failed to find gaps. Bishoo and Nurse bowled 68 balls to him for 28 runs, slower than his innings strike rate of 47.36. Dhoni was even forced to play a sweep shot, which is the ultimate last resort for him against spin.

As Kedar Jadhav fell, bat-pad to Nurse with Shai Hope leaping from behind the stumps, the asking rate closed in on a run-a-ball. Hardik Pandya ramped one for four to buy some breathing space, Dhoni began to take risky singles, and in the 40th over, India needed more than six per over. Would it still be an India win if they batted through?

Dhoni definitely thought so. He kept waiting for the mistake from the opposition, a principle he has built the second half of his limited-overs career on. A tenet of captaincy he has handed down to Kohli. The mistakes weren't forthcoming, though, as Williams began to bowl the gun overs perfectly.

Holder is a leader by example, but his being at the forefront had cost West Indies 65 runs in 4.5 overs at the death in the last two matches. Perhaps he wanted to do the prudent thing. Perhaps he wanted to continue with offspin after Nurse's success. Whatever be the reason, after three conservative bowling innings, with 55 required off 42, with that painstakingly increased asking rate at stake, Holder asked Chase to bowl his offspin for the first time in the series. Chase proceeded to gift Dhoni a boundary down the leg side - his first in 103 balls, then bowled a wide and then went for a six to Pandya to bring the equation down to 39 off 36. Surely now India win if they bat through?

Surely not. Holder came back immediately to make amends with a leg-stump yorker to send back Pandya. In came Ravindra Jadeja who has got a bit of a reputation of being headless under pressure in limited-overs cricket. When the singles ought to do it, he went for the big hit, sending a Holder slower ball down long-on's throat, making it 17 off 15. Dhoni should still have it, right?

It seemed so as he took a single next ball, leaving Kuldeep Yadav, batting for the first time in ODIs, two balls to face from Holder. Both were dots. Williams began the 49th with a slower ball. Dot. Then, calmly, still as if in the middle overs of an innings, Dhoni pushed a single. Nothing wrong with it. That's how Dhoni is. Last over it shall be, one on one, me vs you.

Williams, though, squeezed out two dots against Kuldeep before bringing Dhoni back on strike for the last ball. And that's when Dhoni blinked. That's when he did the uncharacteristic thing. After having backed himself for so long, Dhoni didn't back himself to do it all in the last over.

Holder finished the innings with a flourish, making up with his bowling for the direction and purpose they lacked with the bat. When West Indies batted, you wondered if they would choose not to bat at all if there was a provision for the two captains to just negotiate and decide a total India had to chase. They would still have brokered a better deal than the 189 that they got, joint second-lowest total for a side batting first and playing out its allocation of 50 overs since the 2015 World Cup; the lowest belonged to Zimbabwe.

If the lack of direction showed in the 192 dot balls faced by West Indies - at one point, Evin Lewis, a T20I centurion against India, had faced 15 straight dots from Umesh Yadav - they managed only tame dismissals whenever they tried to push the scoring rate. However, there was another factor at play, the slowness of the pitch, which they exploited decisively in the second half of the match.