• Wood five-for helps Lucknow crush Delhi

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    England’s Mark Wood bagged a five-wicket haul in a sensational spell of pace bowling as the Lucknow Super Giants hammered the Delhi Capitals by 50 runs in the IPL on Saturday.

    West Indies batsman Kyle Mayers smashed 73 off 38 balls to guide Lucknow to 193-6 after being invited to bat first in the second match of the day on their home ground.

    Wood then rattled the opposition chase and returned impressive figures of 5-14 in his first appearance for Lucknow as Delhi were restricted to 143-9.

    The express bowler, who consistently bowled close to 150km/h, cleaned up Prithvi Shaw and then bowled Mitchell Marsh for a duck on successive balls.

    Sarfaraz Khan prevented the hat-trick but later fell to Wood when he was caught at fine leg.

    Despite some resistance from captain David Warner (56 off 48 balls) and Rilee Rossouw (30 off 20) the Delhi batting faltered.

    Warner, an explosive left-hand opener who was made captain in the absence of the injured Rishabh Pant, reached his fifty and hit some entertaining shots but finally fell to Avesh Khan.

    A jersey of Pant, who was injured in a car crash in December and continues to recover from his injuries following surgery, was hung in the Delhi dugout as a mark of solidarity with the wicketkeeper-batsman.

    Earlier Mayers hammered seven sixes as he overcame a cautious start to tear into the opposition bowling with his big hitting.

    Mayers, who was dropped on 14, notched up his fifty in 28 balls with a six and kept up the attack before being bowled by left-arm spinner Axar Patel.

    Another West Indian Nicholas Pooran soon took charge and smashed two fours and three sixes in his 36 off 21 balls.

    Delhi’s left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed returned figures of 2-30 before being replaced by Aman Khan under the new “impact player” rule introduced this season.

    Krishnappa Gowtham came in as impact player on the last ball for Lucknow and finished the innings with a six.

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    The impact player, who can only be an Indian unless the team has fewer than four overseas players in their XI, is chosen from one of five substitutes listed with the team.

    Other new rules include captains being allowed to announce their XI after the toss and teams being able to review umpires’ decisions on no-balls and wides using the DRS.

    The 16th edition of the money-spinning league, which began in 2008 and has risen to become the world’s richest cricket tournament, runs until 28 May with 74 matches.

    © Agence France-Presse

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    Simon Borchardt