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Nottinghamshire boosted their hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the Royal London Cup with a six-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Welbeck

ECB Reporters Network07-May-2017
ScorecardSamit Patel ensured Nottinghamshire’s chase had few alarms•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire boosted their hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages of the Royal London Cup with a six-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Welbeck.James Pattinson took 4 for 42 as Leicestershire were bundled out for 217 in only 43.5 overs, after being asked to bat first.Mark Cosgrove, with 80, played the only innings of any substance for the visitors but when he fell the visitors lost their way and slipped from 179 for 4 to 194 for 9.Samit Patel gave the run chase a timely boost by speeding to 79 from 60 balls and it was left to a fourth wicket stand of 80 between Brendan Taylor and Steven Mullaney, who both made half centuries, to take Notts to the finishing line.In cold, blustery conditions Cosgrove arrived at the crease in the seventh over of the morning after Luke Fletcher and Harry Gurney had reduced the visitors to 18 for 2.Cameron Delport was denied a couple of early boundaries when two straight drives both crashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end. His luck appeared to be changing when he top-edged a delivery from Gurney high over third man for the only six of the innings.He’d only made 8 when he nicked behind, one of three catches for Chris Read. Mark Pettini made 39, sharing in a third wicket stand of 65 with Cosgrove, before becoming Pattinson’s first wicket.The Australian then spent most of the next hour trying to keep warm on the boundary edge before returning to blow the middle and lower order apart with three wickets in four balls.Both Lewis Hill, who made a breezy 30, and Rob Sayer, who fell first ball, were sent on their way after bellowed lbw appeals. Tom Wells was then yorked for just 3.Pattinson also thudded a thunderbolt onto the boot of Zak Chappell, who was still hobbling when he tamely fell to Gurney at the other end.Cosgrove, who is yet to score a one-day hundred in England, seemed about to correct that anomaly but was undone by Gurney and ballooned the ball up to Patel in the covers.Gurney finished with 3 for 29 and Stuart Broad claimed 2 for 48, which included the final wicket to fall, that of skipper Clint McKay, bowled for 14.Nottinghamshire’s innings got off to the worst possible start as Chappell trapped Michael Lumb lbw first ball. Patel made the most of his early arrival in the middle to race to an impressive 50, which included 10 boundaries in only 30 balls.Riki Wessels, with scores of 85 not out and 114 in the last two years at Welbeck, only made 20 before nicking Tom Wells behind but the home side overcame his loss with another punishing stand.Patel and Taylor put on 58 in only 10 overs to take the game completely away from Leicestershire. Patel, who had hit 14 fours in his punishing innings, tossed away the chance of a century by hitting Chappell out to Jamie Sykes, the substitute fielder, on the point boundary.Mullaney hit both Wells and Aadil Ali for sixes as he raced to his second fifty in consecutive matches, getting there from only 42 deliveries but he fell to his next ball, hoisting Aadil Ali out to deep midwicket.Taylor’s own 50 had come from 72 balls faced and he was unbeaten on 51 as Billy Root stroked the winning run with 70 balls remaining.
The win moves Nottinghamshire on to six points and enables them to leap-frog Leicestershire into third place in the North Group.

CA chief executive James Sutherland said on Monday that the board is confident the tour will take place given the feedback it has received from its government agencies

Mohammad Isam11-May-2017Cricket Australia will send a security team to Bangladesh next week as part of the process to finalise arrangements for the team’s tour in August-September. Nizamuddin Chowdhury, CEO of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, has said CA will take a call on going ahead with the tour based on the report of the security team.”Teams like Australia, England and India have certain standard pre-tour activities,” Chowdhury said on May 6. “Going by that, Cricket Australia will send a team in the middle of this month. They will check the security arrangements and assess other opportunities. These are standard practices that always take place. Only after this visit can their board officially give them the green signal to come here.”CA chief executive James Sutherland said on Monday that the board is confident the tour will take place given the feedback it has received from its government agencies.”We’re just working through all the details,” Sutherland said. “I’m very pleased to be at a stage of really fine-tuning the detail – there are still some things that we need to work through just to lock down on security.”Once our hosts have locked in dates and the schedule, then from us it’s all systems go, subject to any security concerns we might have. From all the research we’ve done and the work we’ve done with [the Department of] Foreign Affairs and others through government agencies, we’re confident the tour will take place.”Earlier this month, BCB president Nazmul Hassan had said that his CA counterpart David Peever had personally assured him of Australia’s participation in the two-Test series during last month’s ICC meeting in Dubai.Australia are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on August 18. The tour will begin with a practice match in Chittagong from August 22 to 24, followed by the first Test from August 27 to 31, also in Chittagong, and the second Test from September 4 to 9 in Mirpur.

After a long break for rain, an unbroken stand of 165 between the Jacks – Leaning and Brooks – put Yorkshire in a position where they shouldn’t lose the Roses match

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford20-May-2017
ScorecardWhen deprived of time, cricket takes comfort from intensity. So it was in this Roses match when the players emerged from the dressing-rooms after five phone-goggled hours with Yorkshire’s batsmen seeking to establish a substantial first-innings score. We thought that Gary Ballance might then seek to put Lancashire’s top order under the particular pressure that only a few overs late in the day can apply. All that had happened in the 19 balls bowled before mid-morning rain swept in from the west was that Andy Hodd had played on to Tom Bailey and 14 runs had been scored. Now battle could be rejoined in a long evening session.But battle was not truly joined. Instead, travelling supporters were treated to the satisfying spectacle of Jack Leaning making his first century since June 2015 and the deliciously unexpected one of Jack Brooks making his highest first-class score and ending the evening playing a Boycottesque forward defensive in the hope that he will be allowed to score the six runs that will take him to a maiden century in the morning. Yorkshire are now 421 for 7 and they have seized control of this game. Leaning and Brooks’ unbroken stand of 165, an eighth-wicket record for Roses matches, has ensured that their team should not lose the match. It seems longer than a day’s play since Yorkshire were 178 for 6; since then they have scored 243 runs for the loss of Hodd’s wicket.The anticipation principle also applies to spectators, of course. Sometimes it is the waiting that makes one’s pleasures particularly enjoyable, although by most accounts Henry VIII did not subscribe to this view in the case of Anne Boleyn. Thus the hardy souls who had spent the middle of their Saturdays frowsting in the Old Trafford pavilion watched the last 37 overs of the day with even greater interest and if they wore the eleven-petalled White Rose, they were repaid by the beguiling sight of Leaning supporting Brooks, who went from 50 to 94 in 35 balls, hitting three further sixes in the process. Having spent their afternoon draining a glass or two in the afternoon, Yorkshire supporters suddenly found that their cups runneth over.Brooks’ pleasure can only be guessed at this evening and his celebrations, should he reach a century, may keep social media buzzing tomorrow, even on a day when a few association football matches are taking place. He reached the fourth first-class fifty of his career when he skewed a drive off Stephen Parry just past Haseeb Hameed at midwicket. Yet the somewhat fortunate fashion in which Brooks reached his landmark did not reflect the good sense and clean hitting which characterised his innings. Brooks has always been a capable if uncomplicated batsman, even if farming the bowling is an alien concept to him, something which Yorkshire’s England batsmen have discovered to their cost and mirth. Now he has the chance to do something very special; if he succeeds, his opening overs may be worth watching, too.If Jack Brooks reaches three figures, the celebrations should be worth watching•Getty Images

Yet all this jollity was only made possible because Leaning and Hodd had batted so well on the first evening of the game and while the vaudeville of Brooks’ straight drives and lashes over cover and midwicket should be properly applauded, the merit of Leaning’s understated contribution is worthy of even greater credit. Last season was tough for a player who many critics believe capable of winning representative honours. Leaning played in only nine of his county’s Division One fixtures in 2016 and his application in this game was all the more admirable.He reached his century with a back-foot four off Simon Kerrigan, whose accuracy on a slow wicket was nothing like the equal of his colleague, Parry. But both bowlers came in for punishment after Leaning had reached his century in exactly six hours with half a dozen fours and a couple of sixes. Lancashire’s captain, Steven Croft, sorely missed the presence of Jimmy Anderson, who will have a scan on his groin injury on Monday, and also that of Jordan Clark, who was ruled out of this match with a back problem.Once Anderson had limped off the field on the first morning, Lancashire’s attack immediately looked thin but it took a day or so for Yorkshire’s batsmen to expose its full limitations. They eventually did so on a glorious Saturday evening and with the greatest relish. Jack Brooks – The Centurion? One fancies that Roy Kilner is laughing his head off.

Facing the world champions, in the semi-final of the Women’s World Cup, brought the best out of Harmanpreet Kaur

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-20171:25

‘The entire family enjoyed a lot’

India were not equipped to handle big occasions, so said Mithali Raj, the captain. Those comments came from a place of disappointment after her team had lost to Australia in the group stage. But now, a week after that thrashing, on a stage as massive as the semi-final of the World Cup, one of her team-mates produced an innings for the ages against the same opposition. Harmanpreet Kaur mauled 171 off 115 balls – she was 41 off 60 before going on a brutal onslaught that would yield 131 off 55.The 28-year old hard-hitting batsman had earned acclaim in the T20 circuit, becoming the first Indian to be picked for the Big Bash League and the Kia Super League. But at the World Cup, Harmanpreet found herself coming in towards the slog overs and so struggled to get time in the middle. Before the semi-final, she had faced only 91 balls in five innings. “I didn’t get a chance to bat in the whole tournament,” she told the host broadcasters after her unbeaten innings, “Today when I got the chance I just wanted to utilise it, this opportunity, because today was the day where I wanted to prove myself, and thanks to God, whatever I was thinking, [worked]. Mithali and Deepti [Sharma] scored really well and Veda [Krishnamurthy] scored really well.”In much the way her idol, Virender Sehwag, used to play, Harmanpreet’s thought process at the crease was very simple. “Today’s plan was just watch the ball, hit it hard and this is what I was doing.” But she had to be careful early on. After all, Australia had India at 35 for 2 in the 10th over. “Some areas they were bowling well but I just wanted to hit and rotate the strike.”Harmanpreet’s partner for much of the day was Deepti Sharma, the only Indian woman with a higher score in ODIs. “I just told her to rotate the strike, you don’t have to take the pressure, I was hitting the ball well and I told her to give me the strike and I will take the responsibility and she did a great job.”But there was one moment of miscommunication during theit 137-run stand. On 98, Harmanpreet knocked a ball into the leg side and immediately called for a second run. But Deepti did not seem so keen. Harmanpreet berated Deepti to complete the double, and after a relay throw via the wicketkeeper ended at the non-strikers’ end brought the third umpire into play, she flung her helmet onto the turf and sent another angry volley of words at Deepti. Eventually, the green light came on and Harmanpreet put an arm around her partner to make up for the momentary slip up.”Of course, it was heat of the moment and I said sorry to her because I don’t want to lose my wicket at the that moment and I don’t want to lose her wicket too, I got a little bit angry but we are fine now.”

One-hundred and sixteen foreign players, including 10 Kolpak players, will be up for grabs in the inaugural player draft of South Africa’s T20 Global League

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2017Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman and England’s Alex Hales are among 116 overseas names who will feature in the inaugural player draft of South Africa’s T20 Global League, which will be held this weekend.Zaman and Hales are listed under the openers’ category, which also features three international marquee players in Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Jason Roy. The international marquee players across other categories include Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga. The marquee players, who had been named in April, will also be assigned individually to the eight franchises.Ten Kolpak players, including Colin Ingram, Richard Levi, David Wiese, and Marchant de Lange, are part of the draft. More notable, however, is the absence of Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott, the most recent high-profile names to have signed Kolpak deals.Yorkshire batsman Adam Lyth, who recently hit the highest score in a T20 in England, and Shahid Afridi, who struck his first T20 hundred against Derbyshire on Tuesday, will also feature in the draft.Misbah-ul-Haq and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had retired from international cricket, are also part of the draft alongside Associate players Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands), Kevin O’Brien (Ireland), Dawlat Zadran (Afghanistan) and Kyle Coetzer (Scotland). The list also includes former Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq, who forayed into coaching recently with the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).Meanwhile, as ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier, Durban Qalandars named Paddy Upton as coach, with Aaqib Javed to oversee the bowlers and double-up as director of cricket operations. New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott, who has played for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League, was named assistant coach of Durban.

The draft resolution was sent to the state associations, including the Associate BCCI member units, on Sunday, and requires them to affirm that they will implement the Lodha Committee recommendations

Nagraj Gollapudi18-Sep-2017Anticipating appeals for funds for the ongoing domestic and international season in India, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has asked the various state associations to fulfil a draft resolution, wherein they must affirm that they will comply with the Supreme Court order to implement the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.

The draft resolution

Resolved the Name of the Association is agreeable to undertake, implement and support the reforms as proposed by the Hon’ble Justice Lodha Committee and accepted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide judgment dated 18 July 2016 in letter and spirit.
Resolved further that in the event the Hon’ble Supreme Court passes any further orders in relation to the recommendations of the Hon’ble Justice Lodha Committee and/or the judgment dated 18 July 2016, such orders shall also be accepted and implemented within one month thereof.

The CoA sent the draft resolution to the state associations, including the Associate BCCI member units, on Sunday. With India’s home season having got underway earlier in September, many states have already approached the BCCI, as well as the court, asking for funds to pay for cricket operations for hosting matches. In addition to the various domestic tournaments, India’s international commitments at home comprise a total of 11 ODIs, nine T20s and three Tests as they host Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka before departing for South Africa at the end of December.On Monday, the court rejected the appeals of the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) and the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), both of whom had approached the BCCI funds for separate reasons. While the SCA wanted about INR 83 lakhs for cricket expenses, MCA wanted funds to the tune of INR 4 crores, to pay off the installment against a longstanding bank loan.Barring the Vidarbha Cricket Association, which approved the Lodha recommendations without any protest, no other BCCI member has complied with the court order so far. The CoA said despite the resistance, the BCCI had put forth, and will continue to make payments for the “conduct” of the cricket matches. The CoA also said it was “regrettable” that state associations continued to defy the court orders despite such a move having the “potential” to “prejudicially affect cricketing activity.”While the BCCI would continue to take care of the payments concerning cricket operations to third-party vendors, the CoA has said that going forward the state associations need to adopt the draft resolution. “In the hope that the defaulting State Associations would come around and comply with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, a draft of the resolution that should be passed by the General Body (or an equivalent forum) of the State Association is enclosed,” the CoA said in its e-mail. “By adopting this resolution, the State Associations will enable BCCI to release additional funds to them in a manner compliant with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”

Sri Lanka captain “over the moon” after pulling off Abu Dhabi heist

Osman Samiuddin in Abu Dhabi02-Oct-2017The last time Sri Lanka won an away Test against a side ranked higher than them was in June 2014, so long ago not just in years but in what has passed in between, that it really was – as the past is said to be – another country.This last year in particular has been rotten in so many ways, so it was no surprise that a beaming Dinesh Chandimal, still green as a captain, pronounced himself “over the moon” after a magical, against-the-odds win in Abu Dhabi.Chandimal’s epic, first-innings 155 played a major part in the 21-run win over Pakistan, as did his marshaling of his attack and team on a tense final afternoon. In the process Sri Lanka became the first visiting side to win a Test at Zayed stadium. After a thorough drubbing at home by India, there couldn’t have been a sweeter – and more important – result.”The guys gave hard work before the match started, and finally that hard work paid off,” Chandimal said. “As a team, we were below par in our performances [against India], but we have waited for this win and finally we got it. Credit goes to all the players.”They played some really good cricket and I’m sure this can continue throughout the series. We did more work on our fitness and fielding, and discipline. Everyone put their heart and soul into the practices, and the management put lots of hard work in.”A Sri Lanka win was a distant prospect when the final day began – tottering, effectively, on 66 for 4. They had seemed dazed on the fourth afternoon and nothing from their work over the previous months suggested they could recover.But they knew, with Rangana Herath in their attack and Pakistan against him, they needed desperately to put together any score upwards of three-figures to give themselves a chance.”It was a tough time, especially last evening,” Chandimal said. “We were surprised to be four down for 40, or 35. We were surprised, but we thought before play started today that 160-plus would be a winning total.”[Niroshan] Dickwella was outstanding in the second innings to get us to the 140 mark. We all knew the legend Rangana would come into play, and finally he did his best.”That the legend – or “wily old fox” as Chandimal also called him – did. A six-wicket haul, and 11 for the match, included all manner of landmarks – the last was his 400th Test wicket and the penultimate, his 100th against Pakistan.Asked how long he would like Herath to play in his side, given he is nearing 40, Chandimal made a little wish. “I just want him throughout my career.”I have no idea how long he is going to play, but I am sure he will do what he can for the team. Rangana is a team man. He is supportive to me and the players, with what he has learnt from cricket. Every young player goes to talk to him about his bowling and experiences.”

Tamil Nadu walked away with three points by virtue of having taken the first-innings lead, while Odisha’s lower order halted Madhya Pradesh’s push for victory

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Oct-2017For a little while, there was the promise of a thrilling finish between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu at the BKC, but it was duly extinguished once Shreyas Iyer’s (138 off 124 balls) pyrotechnics came to an end. Tamil Nadu walked away with three points by virtue of having taken the first-innings lead in the drawn encounter, after Mumbai declared on 371 for 5. Akhil Herwadkar (132) produced a polished effort to bring up his seventh first-class hundred, but it was of little more than academic significance.The only piece of meaningful action came in the morning when Iyer ripped the Tamil Nadu attack. His 11th first-class hundred, breathtaking and calculative in equal measure, took the game forward. With little assistance from the pitch, the bowlers, including R Ashwin, were taken down with ease by Iyer who added four sixes to his five from the third day. The Mumbai batsman brought up his run-a-ball hundred with a four and a six off consecutive deliveries from Yo Mahesh. Iyer then continued to tonk the ball around with slap-pulls and square cuts. However, an ill-advised second run in the 45th over resulted in his dismissal. K Vignesh fired in a strong throw from the deep and despite a dive, Iyer found himself short of the crease.Herwadkar said later that Mumbai didn’t look at declaration given that the pitch didn’t help the bowlers much. “There was hardly any turn,” he said. “We just wanted to bat out the day.” Tamil Nadu captain Abhinav Mukund could empathise with Mumbai’s decision given that it was only their second match of the season. “We were prepared for about 40 or 50 overs. I thought they would put us back,” he said. “But considering they had four more games this season, I think they didn’t want to take the risk.” Ashwin’s 26 overs in the second innings yielded no wickets and he went for over four runs an over, with Iyer and Herwadkar playing him with ease. Abhinav credited the batsmen, but was surprised that the pitch didn’t break up. “There wasn’t as much assistance as I thought there would be on the fourth day,” he said. “It was quite unlike BKC because I thought end third day or the fourth day there will be balls turning. But there was hardly any turn even on the fourth day.” With seven points from three games, Tamil Nadu are now third on the standings, while Mumbai, having played one fewer game, are fourth with four points.Odisha‘s lower order clung on to avoid outright defeat, finishing on 152 for 7 in their second innings after Andhra had enforced the follow-on in Vizianagaram.Resuming their first innings on 294 for 6, Odisha lost Subham Nayak in the first over of the day. However, Biplab Samantray (72) strung useful partnerships of 36 and 49 with Basant Mohanty and Suryakant Pradhan respectively, but Odisha inevitably conceded a lead of 193 runs. Asked to bat again, Odisha got off to a shaky start for the second time in a match, losing Natraj Behera in the fourth over.They lost two more wickets inside the next 13 overs and slipped to 43 for 3. Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt, who picked up four wickets in the first dig, accounted for opener Sandeep Pattanaik, Subhranshu Senapati, Saurabh Rawat and Abinash Saha to reduce Odisha to 81 for 6. It was then left to Samantray to mount another rescue mission, as he shared a 50-run partnership with Nayak. Eventually, Samantray finished on an unbeaten 112-ball 62 to ensure Odisha weren’t bowled out and got away with one point. Andhra’s three points, though, have taken them to second place on the standings behind Madhya Pradesh.

The 20-year old showed plenty of stubbornness as South Australia’s attack chipped away at the line-up, en route to taking Tasmania past 200 with a maiden first-class century

Daniel Brettig23-Nov-2017
ScorecardGetty Images

A patient maiden first-class century by Jake Doran allowed Tasmania to avoid being bowled out by South Australia on day one of the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.Doran, who, for much of last summer played as the Tigers wicketkeeper ahead of the current Test gloveman Tim Paine, is now in the team as a batsman alongside the deposed Matthew Wade, and showed good sense and plenty of stubbornness to endure as wickets fell around him.Lacking both Chadd Sayers and the injured Daniel Worrall, the Redbacks still bowled to a high standard, led by three sometime-Australia representatives in Kane Richardson, Joe Mennie and Adam Zampa. They combined to reduce Tasmania to 6 for 140, before Doran found some lower-order help.Tom Rogers hung around to help Doran add 62 for the seventh wicket, ensuring the innings would carry on into the second morning. Jackson Bird, part of the squad for the first Ashes Test, will by then have been parachuted into the Tasmanian XI in place of another bowler.

Both countries will play a combined total of 29 Tests in the next cycle of the Future Tours Programme

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Dec-2017Ireland and Afghanistan’s desire to play consistent Test cricket is on the verge of fulfillment as both countries are scheduled to play a combined total of 29 Tests in the next cycle of the Future Tours Programme (2019-23).Ireland will play 16 Tests while Afghanistan are scheduled to play 13, in a calendar which is due to get a final approval at the ICC annual conference in June 2018.It is a big shot in the arm for both Ireland and Afghanistan, who secured Full Membership in June. Even before the new FTP kicks in, both countries have secured opponents for their maiden Tests. Ireland will host Pakistan in May 2018 in Malahide while Afghanistan are set to travel to India next year with the itinerary likely to be finalised shortly.Ireland and Afghanistan, along with Zimbabwe, are not part of the Test Championship league, which will commence immediately after the 2019 World Cup. Nonetheless, the new FTP allows both to cut their teeth in Test cricket, albeit at a slower pace compared to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe – the last three entrants into the format. In their first five years Bangladesh played 40 Tests while Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe played 24 Tests each.Ireland ‘s roster is somewhat richer in comparison to Afghanistan’s in that they play half of the top-nine countries. Ireland are scheduled to play a one-off Test against Australia (2019), Sri Lanka (2020), England (2021) and then host New Zealand and South Africa in 2022. In addition, Ireland will face Afghanistan (5 Tests), Zimbabwe (4 Tests) and Bangladesh (2 Tests).Both Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will play nearly equal number of Tests at home and away. Ireland will play seven home Tests and nine away while Afghanistan seven at home and six away.Presently, Australia are the only upper-tier country to play against Afghanistan in the new FTP. Both countries will play a one-off Test in 2020 and 2022. Afghanistan’s other opponents will be: Ireland (5 Tests), Zimbabwe (4 Tests), Bangladesh (1 Test) and West Indies (1 Test).Zimbabwe are scheduled to play 17 Tests in the four-year cycle. Out of the 17, Zimbabwe will play Bangladesh in six Tests followed by four each against Ireland and Afghanistan, two against Sri Lanka and one against West Indies.Playing fewer Tests and focusing on limited-overs cricket is now part of Zimbabwe Cricket’s restructuring plans.Compared to 17 Tests (12 at home) Zimbabwe will play 40 ODIs and 31 T20s during the next FTP.