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Pair of 22-year-olds dominate second day at Old Trafford while Keaton Jennings falls just shy of a century

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford15-May-2019
Nearly thirty years ago that fine writer Neville Scott collaborated with Geoff Cook on a book entitled . Subtitled “An Anatomy of Professional Cricket” it examined, among other things, the tests a player had to survive if he was to prosper in the county game. Despite the various revolutions and fandangos cricket has experienced since its publication Scott and Cook’s book retains its value. One has only to watch Rob Jones bat or Luke Wood bowl to be reminded of its wisdom and insight.Both Jones and Wood are finding their way in the game yet these 22-year-olds dominated much of this second day at Emirates Old Trafford. Jones’ 152-stand with Keaton Jennings had given Lancashire the opportunity to establish unassailable dominance until Wood, who had removed Joe Burns some five hours earlier, produced a couple of inswingers to account for Liam Livingstone, bowled for a third-ball duck, and Jones, who was leg before on the front foot for 67.But the wickets of Jones and Livingstone were no more than the filling in an unpalatable post-tea sandwich for Lancashire’s batsmen, four of whom fell to the second new ball. Their side’s collapse from 188 for 2 to 209 for 6 had begun Ben Sanderson produced a fine lifting delivery which brushed the shoulder of Jennings’ bat on the way to Ricardo Vasconcelos. Jennings had made 97 in over five hours and had shown typically firm resolve on a pitch which permits few liberties. Ten overs after his departure, Vasconcelos was called into action again when Steven Croft edged Jamie Overton wide to the keeper’s right.The flurry of wickets ceased when Tom Bailey joined Dane Vilas and this pair had shared an unbroken stand of 67 by the close. That gave Lancashire a first-innings lead of 46 with power to add on the third morning. But as spectators made their way home from Old Trafford this evening it would not be surprising if a few of them were reflecting on the technical excellence of Jones and Wood, two cricketers born three months apart who share a green and white dream.This is Jones’s 15th first-class match. He has been in and out of Lancashire’s team since making a brave century against Middlesex in only his third appearance in 2016. He won a regular place in the eleven about halfway through last summer but his place on the team-sheet is now secure. There is no case against selecting a player who makes a century and a 67 in successive games.Wood, who has a contract at Nottinghamshire, has played over twice as many top-level matches as Jones but has recently been loaned to both Worcestershire and Northamptonshire. His ability to swing the new ball testifies both to his ability and to the strength of seam bowling at Trent Bridge, whose coaches have given him the chance to play elsewhere. The ball which had Burns caught behind in the third over of the day was pushed across the Australian opener whereas that which bowled Livingstone curved in deliciously before plucking out the off pole.Jones also has the attributes of a formidable cricketer. His forward defensive is cricket’s equivalent of a government bond and his driving through the off side possesses the same technical accuracy as his less flashy strokes. Wood could have testified to the latter a few hours before he took his wicket. But this was a day on which batsmen had to wait for their opportunities against an accurate attack. Both Jennings and Jones did so during their 63-over stand and it was a particular shame that Jennings fell three runs short of his century. On the other hand, he would have been dismissed for five runs fewer had Sanderson accepted a simple chance at short fine leg off Rob Keogh just before tea.Jones still has much to learn. The coaches at Old Trafford will tell him as much and he will take it in. He was dropped on 47 when he failed to cover Overton’s bounce and Temba Bavuma grassed a two-handed slip chance many good club cricketers would describe as easy. Four overs later he reached his fifty off the same bowler with a scurried single which was immediately upgraded to a three by a couple of buzzers. And one wondered at tea whether Jones might make the most of his escape to score his second century in three championship innings.Wood put an end to such notions but the exploits of both these young players were a reminder there are times when we should set aside the easy allegiances of birth, upbringing or partiality. It is Maytime in England. Rob Jones and Luke Wood are attempting to cross the narrow line. The heart dances at the thought they might succeed.

Jonny Bairstow a bystander as Glamorgan seize control at Headingley

Vithushan Ehantharajah05-May-2023If you are going to send a message to your national selectors from the other side of the world, doing so when they are awake can be tough, particularly with 11am starts. Sometimes, though, a player nails their small window.By 12.28pm on Friday at Headingley, Michael Neser did just that with typical precision, completing a maiden hat-trick in first-class cricket. It was early enough to have decent cut-through back home in Australia. Early enough, even with the ten-hour difference, that perhaps an everyman like Australia chief selector George Bailey would have been aimlessly scrolling social media before bed when it dropped into the feeds. He might have still been taking it all in some 15 minutes later when Neser removed Jordan Thompson to claim career-best figures of 7 for 32.The Queensland seamer became only 11th Glamorgan cricketer to take a hat-trick, the ninth to do so in the County Championship and the first since Robert Croft in 2010. And the great thing for a player keen to make as much noise as possible right now is the racket such historical feats tend to make.Related

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Timing is everything, and few will appreciate that more than Neser, the 33-year-old alternate to a pace attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. The misfortune of vying for a starting spot among three modern-great quicks manifested itself in a 17-man squad list for the World Test Championship and first two Ashes Tests that did not bear his name.A spell of this ilk with 2023’s Dukes at one of the Ashes venues won’t hurt, and the speed of the exploits was as vital for trending across hemispheres as the match itself. Yorkshire’s last five wickets fell for just 16 runs inside 21 deliveries, with Glamorgan closing day two with a lead of 196 and eight second innings wickets remaining. Even with just 29.3 overs of play on day two, progress has been swift.Dawid Malan was the first of the hat-trick, building into his work before Neser trapped him on the crease from around the wicket. George Hill’s leave was understandable given the original line of the delivery was fifth stump before seaming in to clip the very top of off. The best of the three deliveries confirmed the hat-trick: swinging in absurdly late, gathering pace off the pitch to strike off stump once more – this time hard enough to crack the middle-and-off bail.In real time, you wondered why Dom Bess offered no shot considering Hill’s dismissal the ball before. And yet watching the replay – over and over and over again – you can understand why. Even given the end result, you wouldn’t leave the house if you lived your life worrying about deliveries that far wide.”Pretty stiff ball to face straight up,” Neser said, sympathies with Bess. Having tried to move the ball away from the right-handers, Neser decided to go the other way and found more than he was bargaining for. “Fortunately enough it worked,” he said, in a typically subdued manner.He was more engaging on his Test snub, which Bailey explained isn’t a snub. Given Neser is not part of the first-choice attack, it made sense to keep him playing competitive red-ball cricket instead of travelling around as a glorified net bowler, as Neser was during the 2019 series. The experience of that tour makes this decision a little more palatable, though the annoyance of having to wait a little longer to add to his two Test caps still has not worn off. Frightening from an English perspective, considering his talents and this performance after a winter of 40 Sheffield Shield wickets at 16.67 during Queensland’s 2022-23 campaign.”It’s disappointing not to be part of that squad, but I’ve got to look at the positives,” Neser said. “I’m playing cricket here, and if I do get called up I’ll get ready to go. Having matches under my belt is far more important than bowling overs in the nets and not playing any games. From a squad point of view, it’s probably best I’m playing games and being ready to go if the opportunity arises.”I know personally I like to be playing constantly. Having matches under the belt is probably the most important thing. You can be bowling fit doing that in the nets, but it doesn’t emulate what you do in the game. I feel like I’m in a good place physically and mentally, so we’ll wait and see.”All of this is music to Glamorgan’s ears, particularly with Marnus Labuschagne leaving in two rounds’ time. Replacing his runs will be hard enough, and he is currently in the process of following up 65 out of 245 in the first innings with what the visitors hope will be another vital contribution in the second.Michael Neser has two Test caps to his name•Getty Images

Wickets, though, are the real premium, underlining Neser’s value. His record stands at 72 dismissals at an average of 21.65 midway through his 17th match for the county, and it is no coincidence Glamorgan have only lost two of the previous 16.Even with the weather, a Glamorgan victory – a first of the season – seems the likeliest result. However, the presence of Jonny Bairstow gives a lowly Yorkshire team a sense of danger. Bairstow watched the Neser-induced carnage from the other end, and you could sense a growing sense of responsibility. A shame, then that he brought about the end of the innings: an attempt at keeping strike for the next over led to the run-out of a hobbling Ben Coad. Yorkshire were 106 all out, Bairstow unbeaten – and unsatisfied – on 20.”He looked like he was in good nick, too,” Neser said of Bairstow, who is two days into a competitive return from nine months out. Having kept for 71.5 overs on day one, Bairstow originally tried to hold his batting exclusively for day two, burning through Mickey Edwards and Matty Fisher as nightwatchers before reluctantly batting out the final two overs of the day.An innings of 34 balls can only tell you so much, but his timing is up to speed. We probably knew that from the 97 and 57 struck against Nottinghamshire 2nd XI last week, but a tuck off his hip through square leg, and a straight drive inside mid-off were good signs. He and Malan ticked along nicely, suggesting something substantial from the international duo. But their partnership ended on 31, and such was the flurry of dismissals at the other end that by the time Bairstow regained any meaningful strike, boundary riders were in place. A swipe of Timm van der Gugten to midwicket felt like the start of a retaliation that was quickly shelved by Kiran Carlson’s work at cover, swooping and taking out two stumps with a direct hit.”We’ll see how we go in the second innings,” Neser said regarding Bairstow, though it was unsure if he meant Bairstow’s or Glamorgan’s. Perhaps both. After all, the part Bairstow played in last summer’s chases for England against New Zealand (twice) and India will have Neser and his team-mates on edge in the final innings. Not to mention that Leicestershire chased down a target of 389 on this ground a month ago.Smatterings of rains before the eventual day-closing downpour at 4.30pm were negotiated well by openers David Lloyd and Andrew Salter. The former skewed a thick outside edge to backward point before the latter felt stitched up by an lbw decision granted to Thompson.The absence of Coad, hurt on day one, dulls the incisiveness of this Yorkshire attack, meaning Glamorgan should dictate the final throes of this match even with another poor forecast for Saturday. Whether 2022 Bairstow or a spell such as Neser’s, they require something special to turn this around.

Who between Multan Sultans and Peshawar Zalmi will make the occasion their own?

Osman Samiuddin23-Jun-2021

Big picture

Given how unlikely it looked at various stages over the last few months, just to be at this stage now, the final of the sixth season of the PSL between the Multan Sultans and the Peshawar Zalmi, is a bit of a triumph.Not only did a resumption of the season look a distant prospect in the days right after it was disrupted, even until the final few days before the resumption there were moments when it was off one minute, on the next. It could have moved to Dubai and Sharjah; there was prolonged confusion over when – and even which – players could get into Abu Dhabi; there was concern over arrivals on different dates from different countries impacting quarantine periods; at one stage, with the prospect of production crews not being allowed from India and South Africa, the whole thing could have been off.There wasn’t a definite start and end date until June 3 when the PCB released a schedule announcing June 9 as the start. Limited player-availability and the fact that this would be played in peak summer in what is, essentially, a hyper-developed desert seemed the least of it. As an exercise in logistics, only the organising of a Pakistani wedding could ever have given organisers headaches like this.So, in the short but already tumultuous history of the PSL, it matters less who wins on Thursday evening than that it is happening at all. Except, of course, this is not how sportsmen think. They don’t much care for the improbability of an occasion happening as much as making that occasion theirs.Related

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The Sultans have been the most successful team in this Abu Dhabi leg, winning five of six games. Mohammad Rizwan’s leadership has done nothing to dampen the curiosity of that minority which wonders whether he should be Pakistan captain; a rivalry-that-isn’t with Babar Azam enhanced by the two opening together for Pakistan and being one and two on the run charts this season.And though Rizwan hasn’t been as prolific in this leg as he was in Karachi, he’s been able to fall back on the unlikely resurgence of Sohaib Maqsood, now available in fetching power-hitting colours. Maqsood is third top-scorer this season, but more (ahem!) striking is the strike rate of 152.52, behind only Colin Munro among the top-ten run-scorers.Otherwise, in the field, and everywhere, has been Shahnawaz Dahani, currently the most vibing cricketer on earth. His primary superpower is enough good vibes to end all hate, but handily he’s a quick learner who bowls mean, hard lengths at 140kph-plus.By contrast, the Zalmi are not as well-oiled – no coding system for bowlers here – and their form in Abu Dhabi has wavered more. No one man stands out for them either, though honourable mentions for Sherfane Rutherford and the endurance of Shoaib Malik. The latter is now in his fourth decade of top-level cricket and, given circumstances and history, only a fool would rule out an umpteenth Pakistan comeback.Hazratullah Zazai has turbo-boosted their starts by such a magnitude that they have managed to bring Imam-ul-Haq into the XI instead of Haider Ali. Ordinarily, that would go against T20 thinking, yet here somehow it hasn’t mattered. Neither has it that Mohammad Irfan is now 39. He is ageing, but it’s not like he’s getting shorter so all those challenges for a batter remain.The unmistakable sense is that the whole has worked better than its parts which, if you think about it, is entirely appropriate for a side led by Wahab Riaz. The totality of Riaz, the athleticism, the hitting, the pace, the effort, has always been worth more than any individual attribute. He’s still taking wickets (only Dahani has more this season), still pulling off the occasional stunning catch, and still swinging his bat every bit as hard as a strike rate of 188.57 suggests. For all the new stars the PSL has come to be identified with over six seasons, it is still Riaz who represents something of the beating heart of it.

Form guide

Peshawar Zalmi: W W L W LMultan Sultans: W L W W WMohammad Irfan should be back to full fitness for the final•Pakistan Super League

In the spotlight

As unlikely as Maqsood but lesser noted has been Imran Khan’s impact for the Sultans. He’s rarely been thought of as a bowler for the format – he’d only played one game in the PSL before this season. But, in very Umar Gul ways, he’s become their joint-second highest wicket-taker.How’s this for impact? Jonathan Wells came out of quarantine on June 20, he had a special net session on Tuesday and then turned up for his first game for the Zalmi in the evening. He was overshadowed by Zazai but his unbeaten 55 was every bit as crucial in calming nerves in the chase.

Pitch and conditions

A wild guess: it will be hot.Abu Dhabi’s pitches, on the other hand, have not been so predictable and a bit of everything has been on display during the last fortnight. Some new-ball swing, turn, reverse, 200+ totals, sub-100 totals; unlike the Karachi leg it isn’t so easy to win the toss and chase.

Team news

Mohammad Irfan, whose leg injury sparked a bit of controversy in the win over the Islamabad United, is better and likely to play.Peshawar Zalmi: Hazratullah Zazai, Kamran Akmal (wk), Jonathan Wells, Shoaib Malik, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Amad Butt, Wahab Riaz (capt), Umaid Asif, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Imran.Multan Sultans: Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (capt & wk), Sohaib Maqsood, Rilee Roussouw, Johnson Charles, Khushdil Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Imran Tahir, Blessing Muzarabani, Imran Khan, Shahnawaz Dahani.

Quotes

“We have played so well and we have played as a team. The best thing from the first leg was that throughout we never blamed anyone for a mistake. This is a team where every individual has a very important role, in the XI or the ones sitting outside. Our morale and momentum is high.”“We looked like a team that would be eliminated, but we really stuck together. People will single certain people out but I’d like to praise the guys as a group. We didn’t quite play as badly in Karachi, and lost a few tight games, but we have executed our plans perfectly here.”

The banned Australia batsman came up against his former captain Steven Smith in a club match in Sydney

Andrew McGlashan in Sydney10-Nov-2018David Warner has not contemplated the prospect of his year-long ban from international cricket for ball-tampering being reduced, as he continues his time in grade cricket, which he said had brought him “perspective” after living in a “bubble”.Warner took the field alongside Steven Smith for the first time since the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands in March, as their respective grade teams Randwick Petersham and Sutherland, faced off in a 50-over match at Coogee Oval in Sydney.The pair chatted regularly during the game and shared what appeared as a warm handshake after the match. Warner insisted that talk of the pair having fallen out over what happened, and claims that he had thrown Smith under a bus by not accepting enough blame, was “comedy.”The last couple of weeks have brought more significant changes in Australian cricket in the wake of events in South Africa following the cultural reviews. The Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) has made a submission to Cricket Australia that the bans handed to Warner, Smith and Cameron Bancroft should be rescinded in light of the findings, which painted the entire Australian cricket set-up in a dim light.”I’m sitting here with 12 months on the sidelines, that’s the way I look at it,” Warner said as he spoke for the first time in Australia since his emotional press conference on returning from South Africa. “That’s why I want everyone to keep being positive about the guys who are playing [for Australia]. We can’t just sit here and keep saying ‘are they are going to be in or not’.”There’s going to be some negative impact with what happened, but we have to put our best foot forward to make sure Australians are enjoying cricket. We put our hands up, we were ashamed of what happened, but we are here to try and promote cricket. We are trying to get Australians back loving it.”Warner’s time in grade cricket has not been without controversy, however, when he made headlines for briefly walking off the pitch during a match against Western Suburbs, having taken offence to a sledge from Jason Hughes, the brother of Phillip. He later resumed his innings, going on to make a hundred, but it put Warner firmly back in the spotlight.Of the experience of dropping down to a lower level, Warner said it had been a reality check playing alongside people with weekday jobs who have to fit their twice-weekly training around earning a living and then commit their weekends to playing.”You pinch yourself a little when you walk in the changing room and the guys are talking about the working week,” Warner said. “It puts it in perspective, we have been living in a bubble for a long time.”Of what there is little doubt is that plenty of people still want to watch Warner and Smith, who both spent considerable timing mingling with fans. The match drew a crowd well in excess of 2000 by the time Smith emerged to bat in the run chase, with every possible vantage point taken around the picturesque ground. Multiple trips were required to the local supermarket to replenish the barbecue while the bar needed plenty of extra crates – a large number donated by Warner.Neither player managed to cut loose with the bat: Warner was caught at backward point for 13 and Smith was stumped for 48, having struggled to find his timing. But the crowd was treated to some thunderous hitting from Shane Watson, a century by Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond and a match-winning hand from Austin Waugh, the son of Steve. Waugh had earlier been the man to dismiss Warner, as Smith’s Sutherland team came out the winners with two balls remaining.When they are back together for Australia still remains to be seen.

How the first Future Tours Programme for women aims to get ahead of burgeoning T20 circuit

Firdose Moonda10-Jan-2023The ICC hopes they will be able to co-ordinate a women’s international cricket calendar with fewer clashes with franchise leagues than they have done in the men’s game by getting ahead of the T20 circuit thanks to their already published Future Tours Programme.Last year, the ICC unveiled its first women’s FTP, months before the Women’s PSL and IPL were confirmed, and the game’s global governing body is confident of keeping a handle on the growth of the women’s game so both international and league cricket can take place side-by-side.”The balance between the women’s international fixtures and the domestic leagues is something we are going to have a better chance at co-ordinating than the way the men’s calendar has developed over the last decade or so,” Geoff Allardice, the ICC’s CEO said at a round-table discussion with media on Tuesday.”We are starting to see a fairly regular schedule of cricket for the top female players around the world and the release of the first FTP for women’s international cricket was a big stepping stone for trying to get ahead of that and trying to avoid clashes wherever possible with some of those leagues. It is something we are monitoring on a regular basis and hopefully as we update the FTP, it’s something we will continue to do to stay ahead of.”Related

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A key difference between the men’s and women’s game, which Allardice believes will work in the women’s calendar’s favour, is the scarcity of Test matches. “The one difference is that there isn’t the same chunks of time taken up with Test series in the women’s calendar and that gives a little bit more freedom to avoid those clashes,” he said.The women’s FTP only has seven Tests scheduled for the 2022-25 period, which leaves plenty of time for white-ball formats.Already, several women’s teams are playing T20 cricket in preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup, set to be followed by the inaugural editions of the Women’s IPL and PSL. The WIPL is of particular interest, with applications for teams already out, and the player auction set for January 26. Just as the men’s IPL provided big-money and development opportunities for Indian and foreign players, the ICC sees the WIPL as a tournament that can do the same.”It will be tremendous for Indian cricket but also for overseas players who participate in the tournament,” Snehal Pradhan, the ICC’s new Women’s Cricket Manager, said. “We have seen in the India-Australia series, not only did we have great crowds, we also had a great standard of cricket which has been a good advertisement for whatever might come next. The opportunity for so many more players to become professional and become close to professionalism will boost the depth and the quality in not just India but all over the world.”Growing the women’s game globally is also top of mind for the ICC, and one of the key reasons they opted to host a women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup (which starts on Saturday) and to extend the field to 16 teams, six more than the senior tournament. Unlike the men’s game, where only 10 teams play Test cricket and of those, there is a clear hierarchy of who plays more often and who the top-tier nations are, the ICC intends for the women’s game to develop more equally than men’s, although Australia are already clear frontrunners.Allardice pointed to the two newcomers at the U19 T20 World Cup – Indonesia, who won their first warm-up game against Zimbabwe, and Rwanda – as success stories, while Pradhan mentioned Brazil and Thailand’s awarding of female national contracts as another example of how the game has spread.”The fact that there are more playing opportunities at the global level is one of the key things that will advance the game outside of the top countries,” Pradhan said. “We’ve seen this in the last three or four years – countries like Thailand and Brazil have offered full-time contracts to their women’s teams ahead of men’s teams because they recognise there are opportunities for those teams to get to major world tournaments. It’s worth noting that it’s a very important strategic decision to make this (U19 T20 World Cup) tournament a 16-team event and therefore more opportunities at the global level.”Allardice confirmed that the senior women’s T20 World Cup will move from 10 teams to 12 in 2026 and that the U19 tournament could see more than 16 teams in future, with it becoming a key step in the development of the game. “The establishment of the Under-19 World Cup is going to help in terms of providing a pathway for players in some of the countries that perhaps haven’t been leading the development of the women’s game. That’s one of the reasons why the Under-19 T20 World Cup is such a strategically important decision for cricket,” he said.

The three teams have combined to play just 23 Tests since 2017

Tristan Lavalette17-Feb-2023As they trudged off the Queens Sports Club after suffering a second successive Test thrashing, Zimbabwe were left disappointed at being comprehensively outplayed by West Indies.Defeat in this recently-concluded two-match series, however, was almost inconsequential for a nation emerging from an 18-month hiatus from Test cricket. Before hosting West Indies this month, Zimbabwe played only 14 Tests from 2017-22: in part because ongoing financial strife forced them to, and also because enticing bigger Full Members while not being part of the nine-team World Test Championship (WTC) has proven something of an impossible sell for them.Ireland and Afghanistan, who became Full Members by gaining Test status in 2017, are also not part of the WTC, and similarly have barely played Test cricket; Ireland have had only three Tests since, while Afghanistan just six. But when the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the period 2023-27 was released last August, these three teams were allocated significantly more Tests: Afghanistan (21), Zimbabwe (20) and Ireland (12).Related

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Until that announcement, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan had combined to play just 23 Tests since 2017; none of them played another for the rest of 2022 as well. So while the Test numbers were a positive, the problem was that precious few in the new FTP were scheduled against the cash cows of India, England and Australia. Zimbabwe, notably, were allocated 109 matches across formats, with not a single one – even in the shorter formats – being against cricket’s three biggest draw cards.During ICC meetings in Melbourne last November, while he contemplated running for ICC chair, Zimbabwe Cricket boss Tavengwa Mukuhlani used his leverage to push for a working group focused at looking into current and future FTP bilateral planning arrangements. Mukuhlani, along with ECB’s Martin Darlow and New Zealand Cricket’s Martin Snedden, will be comprising that group, which is expected to be ratified at next month’s ICC board meetings. They haven’t met formally, although they had discussions on the sidelines in Melbourne.The working group is open for Full Members to address concerns heightened amid international cricket’s shrinking calendar as T20 leagues sprout worldwide. It is expected to have a particular focus on the three countries not part of the WTC too, even as the abolition of the ODI World Cup Super League has also raised an alarm for smaller nations over future ODI fixtures.”We believe Zimbabwe is a Test nation. We can’t just let that slip simply because nations don’t want to play us,” Mukuhlani told ESPNcricinfo. “We have something to preserve and defend. We want to play Tests. We know it will cost us money, but we can’t put a value on playing Test cricket.”Zimbabwe have not played any of the so-called Big Three teams in Test cricket since September 2005, when they had hosted India for two Tests. Last year, they ended a 19-year drought of touring Australia other than for a World Cup, for a series which was part of the Super League, and where they famously won the third ODI, although their push for a one-off Test was rebuffed by CA.This year’s match remains Ireland’s only Test against England, India or Australia through to 2027•Getty Images

Mukuhlani said discussions were ongoing over Zimbabwe hosting India for a white-ball series later in the year after the countries played a three-match ODI series last August in Harare. But their relationship with England has long proved thorny due to strained political ties during the latter years of the reign of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe.The two countries have not played each other bilaterally since 2004 – and not at all since September 2007, when they had met in the inaugural ICC World T20 – although Zimbabwe’s political situation is different since Mugabe was ousted from power in 2017.Both the ZC and ECB have confirmed that there are no longer political issues preventing the countries from playing each other; but such a bilateral arrangement still remains stalled for the foreseeable future.”England for us is big money – the second biggest behind India,” Mukuhlani said. “We want England to tour us. It’s a conversation we’ve had for many years. There is great willingness from the ECB, and there have been signs in recent times. But nothing tangible has ever happened on their end. But we know they – like other countries – are struggling to find gaps in the schedule.”Mukuhlani said he would advocate through the working group for countries touring South Africa to make a stopover in Zimbabwe; even as England last month were in South Africa for a three-match ODI series, but won’t be returning there until 2026-27. He also planned to propose annual triangular or quadrangular white-ball series during April-May for countries with limited or no players competing in the IPL, such as Zimbabwe and Pakistan.”I’ve been trying to raise these issues for a long time, so hopefully now there is a proper platform to air them,” Mukuhlani said of the working group.Afghanistan are set to end a two-year Test wait with a series in Bangladesh mid-year•Abu Dhabi Cricket

Unlike Zimbabwe, Ireland play England imminently with a one-off Test scheduled in June at Lord’s. Cricket Ireland administrators had hoped it would become an annual fixture in the English summer, but this year’s match remains Ireland’s only Test against England, India or Australia through to 2027. Before that fixture, they will be breaking a four-year drought in the format when they meet Bangladesh in a one-off Test in Dhaka in April.”Our players are keen [to play Tests], but we have to be realistic,” Ireland’s ICC board director Ross McCollum said.Ireland’s only home Test was their debut in the format against Pakistan in 2018 which cost around a million Euros; and they aren’t scheduled to host a Test until the middle of next year against Zimbabwe.”With the budget we have, it is much easier to play away,” McCollum said. “Our annual turnover is around 10-12 million [Euros], so it’s a sizeable chunk out of that to host Tests. Ideally we want to play Test cricket. But only a few countries are financially able to play Test cricket and can put bums on seats.”While they strive for more Test opportunities, these smaller nations realise that an expanded WTC remains unlikely.”I think [WTC] is important because it creates context,” McCollum said. “Ideally it would have been expanded to 12 members, and I would have liked to have seen two leagues with promotion and relegation. But some countries didn’t want it because they might have fallen into relegation, and 12 teams in one division is too hard because of the crammed calendar.”Afghanistan, meanwhile, are set to end a two-year Test wait with a series in Bangladesh scheduled for mid-year. Their FTP is marked by a historic tour of Australia in 2026, which includes a one-off Test, but relations between the two countries are currently frayed. CA recently pulled out of an ODI series against Afghanistan set for March due to the Taliban’s ban on university education for girls.It was met with fierce condemnation from the Afghanistan Cricket Board and their players, including Rashid Khan, who threatened to boycott the BBL. But amid the politicking, Afghanistan’s future is murky beyond the playing field, as the sport’s administrators grapple with the apparent erosion of women’s cricket development since the Taliban seized control. The Afghanistan issue is set to be debated at the ICC meetings next month.

Matthew Mott says England will be “clear with everybody on their roles” as they plan for Australia

Matt Roller03-Oct-2022Ben Stokes will be carded to bat at No. 4 in England’s T20 World Cup team after white-ball captain Jos Buttler insisted that he is wasted down the order as a finisher.Stokes was rested from England’s tour to Pakistan after a busy summer captaining the Test team and has not played a T20 international since March 2021 but left for Australia on Sunday and is seen as a key part of the full-strength side, despite an underwhelming record across his short-form career.He has only batted above No. 5 three times in his T20I career, most recently in 2016, but had success opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020 and will effectively be a straight swap for Ben Duckett at No. 4 in England’s World Cup plans.Related

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“One of the things that’s been said for a while is that he hasn’t had a clear role,” Matthew Mott, England’s white-ball head coach, said. “And Jos in particular is clear that he’s a top-four player. Those conditions in Australia will suit the way he plays. You always have a bit of flexibility with the batting but he will be expected to be higher in the innings.”I got a couple of texts [from Stokes] on Sunday. He was jumping on that flight ready to go. We’ve deliberately left him alone. He’s had a busy summer. There’s a lot of time before that first World Cup game and when we get to Australia, we’ll be really clear with everybody on what the expectations are with their roles.”As good as this tour has been, there’s new faces coming in and some leaving as well. So like we try and do for every tour, we’ll make sure the starting XI are really clear on what we expect from them and what role we want them to play.”Stokes is likely to be joined in the middle order by Harry Brook, who Mott said “couldn’t have done any more” to seal a spot in the World Cup team after a dominant performance at No. 5 during their 4-3 series win in Pakistan.Brook capped a breakthrough series in international cricket with 46 not out off 29 balls in Sunday’s decider in Lahore, making him England’s highest run-scorer on the tour with an aggregate of 237 across six innings while striking at 163.01. He was also named Player of the Series.”He’d have to go pretty close, I think,” Mott said. “It depends on what balance we go with – whether we go with an extra batter or an extra allrounder – but he couldn’t have done any more to push his case in this series.”To me, batting at No. 5 is about as hard as it gets. You don’t often get it your way: you’re either under pressure with early wickets or you’re having to throw your wicket away at the end. Whatever the situation was, he always looked like he had a plan. That came out quite clearly and for a young player to be so clear in such a tricky role showed a lot.”Brook spent much of the English summer as the Test team’s spare batter, with his playing schedule disrupted as a result. “Brooky has been starved of cricket for a bit,” Mott added. “He’s watched a lot from the sidelines and he just sees the opportunity. He looked right at home in that pivotal role at No. 5, which is quite difficult normally.”Buttler is due to return in England’s three-match series against Australia, which starts in Perth on Sunday, after a lay-off with a calf strain kept him on the sidelines throughout the Pakistan tour, while Liam Livingstone is making good progress after an ankle injury and is inked into England’s middle order.With Dawid Malan reaffirming his status as England’s first-choice No. 3 in the decider in Lahore on Sunday night, the main question around their batting line-up concerns the identity of Buttler’s opening partner. Alex Hales’ experience in Australia means he is the favourite, but Phil Salt’s form in Lahore means the debate remains live.”That’s the big question,” Mott said. “I don’t think that’s resolved, which is probably not a bad thing. We’ve got four games before that first World Cup game [including a warm-up against Pakistan in Brisbane] so there’s still plenty of time. Hales did really well at the start [of the tour] but Salt really took his opportunities… he showed all the signs we’re looking for. There’s a lot of options there, which is a good headache to have.”England managed players’ returns from injury carefully, with Chris Woakes and Mark Wood playing two games each after missing the whole home summer. Wood was initially due to play the decider in Lahore, but he was one of several England players to suffer some illness last week and the management decided against risking him.”We probably talked him out of playing, to be honest,” Mott said. “He always wants to play but we didn’t want to take that risk. We’re pretty happy with what he got through. He’s one of those bowlers, the X-factor bowler. A bit like Jos, he could maybe have played the back end of the series but those two guys are hard to replace so we’re trying to box a bit smarter and not take the risk on what is going to be a long campaign.”

All the matches will be played in East London before the teams go to the World Cup, starting eight days after the tri-series final

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2022South Africa will host India and West Indies in East London for a triangular T20I series in January-February next year in the build-up to the women’s T20 World Cup 2023, which will be held in South Africa soon after, in February.

Schedule

Jan 19: South Africa vs India
Jan 21: South Africa vs West Indies
Jan 23: India vs West Indies
Jan 25: South Africa vs West Indies
Jan 28: South Africa vs India
Jan 30: India vs West Indies
Feb 2: Final

The three teams will play each other twice in the round-robin stage, before the top two teams play the final on February 2, after which there will be a short gap before the World Cup kicks off on February 10. The World Cup will run till February 26, with the matches played in Cape Town, Gqeberha and Paarl.”These two sides [India and West Indies] are up there with the most talented and entertaining nations in women’s T20 cricket, having featured in two of the last four finals, with the West Indies lifting the trophy in 2016,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket, said in a statement. “This will give the Momentum Proteas a highly competitive build-up to the ultimate prize of the T20 World Cup.”At the World Cup, South Africa have been placed in Group A alongside favourites Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India and West Indies are in Group B with England, Ireland and Pakistan.Australia have won five of the seven editions of the World Cup so far, with England and West Indies winning once each. South Africa have never reached the title round, while India got to the final for the first time in the previous edition, in 2020 in Australia, where Australia beat them by 85 runs at the MCG.

“A team could still lose if they have performers. But if we have more impact, chances are, we will win more games.”

Mohammad Isam14-Sep-2022Bangladesh’s technical consultant Sridharan Sriram believes ‘impact’ in T20 cricket trumps everything else. Even performance.

In his first press conference in Dhaka, Sriram – essentially brought on board for the T20I side – said that he believes a good performance can even be detrimental to a side, unless it has a direct influence on the outcome of a T20 game.”I am looking for impact, not performance,” Sriram said, just moments after Bangladesh announced their T20 World Cup squad. “Bangladesh will win if seven or eight players make an impact. A 30 or 25, off 17-18 balls is impact for me. A small example of this is the way Mosaddek [Hossain] went after [Wanindu] Hasaranga in the over after Mahmudullah got out [at the Asia Cup]. That’s impact. I think performance is overrated in T20 cricket. A team could still lose if they have performers. But if we have more impact, chances are, we will win more games.”Related

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Sriram said that Bangladesh’s struggles in closing out games from tight situations as an area that needs improvement. In nine T20Is this year, Bangladesh have lost seven matches, following on from doing poorly in the T20 World Cup last year in the UAE. Sriram believes that it could be a lack of skill or mentality, or both, that is holding the team back.”We want to win critical moments in the game. Bangladesh have lost a lot of close T20 games. The overall results would have looked a lot better had we won half of these games. Why we are losing close games is something I am really keen to understand.”We need to have critical-moment awareness. If we win small moments, overall we can string those results together. Chances are, we will win close games. It could be skills, execution or it could be mental as well. What is he thinking in those situations? These conversations are ongoing with the leadership group of the team. We do one-on-one and also small groups too,” Sriram said.Sriram is also keen to work with Bangladesh’s returning batters. Litton Das, Nurul Hasan and Yasir Ali missed the Asia Cup due to injuries, but Sriram believes that they have the right skills to take the team in the right direction come the World Cup.”Litton Das is an established cricketer and Nurul has good knowledge of his own game,” Sriram said. “I am quite eager to see more of Yasir. He has the power that Bangladesh lacks as a T20 team. Somebody who can clear the ropes and find the boundaries. I think Rabbi [Yasir] is a very exciting prospect.Sriram shot back at a suggestion that a good performance by Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup, in Australia next month, will give him a contract extension. Rather, he said, that he wanted to focus on the positives from the Asia Cup, where he felt that the team showed fighting qualities despite losing to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.”I am not here to extend my contract. I am here to do my job to the best of my ability for the time I am contracted,” Sriram said. “Thinking of an extension is not the right way to operate. I will do the best for Bangladesh. I wear heart and soul for this team.”There was a huge positive in the way we played in the Asia Cup. We needed to win both games but it doesn’t mean we didn’t play good cricket. I please request everyone not to be results driven. Results are everything in sport but there needs to be a process and plan in place. As long as we have that direction, that’s all I am accountable for.”

BCCI “obligated” to get ICC a tax waiver on the event; if that doesn’t happen, the BCCI’s share of the ICC’s central revenue pool will take a hit

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Oct-2022The BCCI stands to lose between US$58-116 million from its share of the ICC’s central revenue pool as a result of the tax imposed by the Indian government on the global cricket body for hosting the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup in India. The marquee event is scheduled to be played in India in October-November next year.”It is to be noted that any tax cost incurred by the ICC for the 2023 event in India will be adjusted with the BCCI’s share of revenue from the ICC,” the BCCI said on Thursday in an update sent to its state associations. In the two-page document, seen by ESPNcricinfo, the BCCI outlined the estimated financial hit it is likely to incur in the absence of the ICC securing a full tax exemption from the Indian government for staging the tournament in India, the first men’s global cricket event in the country since the 2016 T20 World Cup.Related

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The tax exemption has been part of the host’s agreement the BCCI signed with the ICC in 2014, when three men’s events were awarded to India: the 2016 T20 World Cup, the 2018 Champions Trophy (later changed to 2021 T20 World Cup, which was moved to the UAE and Oman) and the 2023 ODI World Cup. As per the agreement, the BCCI was “obligated” to help the ICC (and all its commercial partners involved in the tournament) secure the tax waiver.The tax waiver has been a contentious issue every time a global cricket event has been held in India. In 2016, the BCCI said in the note, the ICC deducted “nearly $23.5 million” from the central revenue pool after the Indian government had charged Star India*, which owns rights for ICC events, 10.92% in taxes.The BCCI has challenged the ICC on that at the global body’s disputes tribunal. Even as it awaits a final decision from the tribunal, the BCCI has said it had opened discussions with India’s finance ministry to “deliver a tax exemption or a tax solution” for the 2023 World Cup.The BCCI was originally meant to secure such an exemption 18 months before the event. It said that it had asked ICC to extend the deadline to May 31 this year from April, which was the original timeline.”At the start of this financial year, the BCCI had advised the ICC that in line with the tax order for the 2016 event, it was expected that a 10% (excluding surcharges) tax order could be obtained as an interim measure for the 2023 event within the required timeframe,” the BCCI said in its update. “The ICC has now received a 20% (excluding surcharges) tax order for its broadcast revenue for the 2023 event from the tax authorities in India.”In the note the BCCI listed the ICC’s broadcasting income from next year’s World Cup in India at an estimated $533.29 million. The BCCI said the “financial impact” it would suffer for a 10.92% tax order on that would be around $58.23 million (the BCCI’s note listed the figure as $52.23 million, which appears to be an error given the percentages listed), which would more than double to roughly $116.47 million if the tax component were to be 21.84%, as desired by the Indian government.This amount, whatever it finally is, will be deducted from the BCCI’s share of ICC’s central revenue pool, which over the course of the current rights cycle (2016-2023) amounts to roughly $405 million based on ICC’s overall earnings for the period estimated at $2.7 billion.The BCCI said it remained “hopeful” of a solution as it is engaging at the “highest level” in the Indian government. “The BCCI is currently working with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India and have represented against this 20% (excluding surcharges) tax order at the very highest level and are hopeful that a 10% (excluding surcharges) tax order would be forthcoming shortly.”*