Cricketers of the Week: 2nd July – 9th July

The Women’s World Cup has picked up steam. Meanwhile, England have steamrolled a depleted South Africa to win the first Test of the series at Lord’s. There were plenty of performances that lit up the screen as usual, and cricket held its own even as Wimbledon is suffering from a little bit of a crisis with injuries claiming many players.

Here, we take a look at the top 5 performances of the week, that well, includes two of the Fab 4, who as usual have done fabulously.

#1 Virat Kohli

Mohammad Shami picked up 4/48 to flatten West Indies as India chased down a modest 206 in just 36.5 overs in the final ODI of their West Indies tour to win the ODI series 3-1. Virat Kohli entered the record books for the most centuries in chases with his 18^th, overtaking none other than Sachin Tendulkar. Who knew someone would break one of Sachin’s ODI records at just 28.

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The icing on the cake was that Virat is also now a frontrunner, as far as unbeaten second-innings centuries are concerned. He smashed a 115-ball 111 adding an unbeaten 122 with Dinesh Karthik, who did no harm to his chances with a brisk 52-ball 50. This was done after India lost Shikhar Dhawan in just the first over, before Rahane fell at 84 in the 19^th over. The pace was exhilarating from then on. Oh, and Virat did his angry-man celebrations too!

#2 Joe Root

Another century in the first Test of a series

Joe Root emulated his predecessor Alastair Cook by scoring a ton on debut as captain of the England team. There is something about Root and his penchant for big, series-defining knocks early in the series. While Moeen Ali picked up the Man of the Match (will be part of the list next week for sure), it was Root on Day 1 that rescued England.

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England were 14 for 1, 17 for 2 and before long, 76 for 4 before Root dug in adding 114 with Ben Stokes (54), and then, a whopping 177 for the sixth wicket with Moeen Ali, who scored 87. Root missed out on a double ton falling on 190, scored in just 234 balls with 27-fours in a great display of counter-attacking cricket.

Broad’s 57 at No.9 pushed England to 458 and after South Africa conceded a 97-run lead, the writing was on the wall.

#3 Deepti Sharma

Another pillar of Indian batting

Indian women’s team has found another strong batter to support Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj. Batting first, India posted 232 thanks largely to Deepti, who scored 78 off 110 balls to add 118 for the third wicket with Raj.

The partnership was the bedrock of the score as India couldn’t kick on from there. It was a close match as Sri Lanka came close. India eventually restricted them to 216, winning the match by 216 runs.

Jhulan Goswami was the bowling star, with figures of 2/26 in 8 overs. Deepti Sharma contributed with the ball as well, with figures of 1/46 in 10 overs, with the wicket of Sri Lanka’s top-scorer, Surangika, which a match-turner.

#4 Dane van Niekerk

Leading wicket-taker at WWC

Niekerk, the highest wicket-taker as of now in the Women’s World Cup, pulled off a stunning feat against West Indies, who were all out for 48 against South Africa. While Marizanne Kapp did well with figures of 4/14 in 7 overs, Niekerk finished off the Windies with surgical strikes including that of the top-scorer Nation. Kiekerk returned figures of 3.2-3-0-4.

That’s right. She didn’t concede a single run, picking up four wickets as South Africa routed West Indies by 10 wickets, smashing 51 in just 6.2 overs. The 24-year all-rounder has 114 wickets in ODIs and this was her fifth 4-wicket haul to add to her two five-wicket hauls.

#5 Niroshan Dickwella

Back to back centuries for the Sri Lankan opener

Sri Lanka’s dashing opener smashed back to back centuries in the third and fourth ODI against Zimbabwe at Hambantota. In the third, chasing 310, Sri Lanka romped home in the 48^th over thanks to centuries from their openers, Dickwella (102) and Gunathilaka (116), as they added 229 for the opening stand in 37 overs.

In the fourth ODI, batting first, Sri Lanka posted 300, thanks to another double century opening stand, a record in itself. While Gunathilaka fell on 87, Dickwella scored 116 in just 118 balls, a staggering strike-rate considering, he had hit only 8 fours.

Unfortunately, the second century came in a losing cause as Zimbabwe smashed 219 in just 29.2 overs to win the game by D/L. That was largely thanks to the efforts of Craig Ervine, who scored a 55-ball 68. Zimbabwe thereby kept the 5-ODI series alive winning their second ODI, after they had won the first ODI chasing down 316.