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But Sanderson, White tear through top order to bowl Northants back into contention

ECB Reporters Network28-Sep-2022Ben Sanderson and Jack White removed Essex’s top order to bowl their side back into contention at the end of the third day of this LV= County Championship clash at Wantage Road.Sanderson struck twice early in Essex’s second innings to account for Sir Alastair Cook and Tom Westley in consecutive maiden overs. White also picked up a wicket in successive overs to reduce the Eagles to 52 for 5 and snatch back the momentum after the hosts had conceded a first innings deficit of 100.Earlier Essex seamer Ben Allison returned career-best bowling figures of 5 for 32 as Northamptonshire were bundled out for 163. Allison’s maiden five wicket haul followed his heroics with the bat yesterday when he registered his highest score of 69 not out. With Shane Snater also taking two scalps, Northamptonshire lost their last five wickets for 16 runs.When bad light prompted an early finish Essex were 63 for 5, a lead of 163, which sets up an intriguing final day.In the morning session, Will Young (37) and Luke Procter made a solid start extending their overnight partnership to 39, before Allison found some extra bounce to take Young’s glove with keeper Michael Pepper taking the catch.Rob Keogh started brightly, playing a conventional sweep and reverse sweep off Simon Harmer for consecutive boundaries before the South African spinner spun one back to hit the stumps.Procter cut Allison crisply for a boundary and had advanced to 28 when he played down the on-side to the same bowler and was well caught low down at leg slip by Matt Critchley.Saif Zaib (18) played some attacking shots either side of lunch including a back-foot punch off Allison for four and a blow over extra cover off Harmer. But after driving Snater through cover to the ropes, he edged Snater’s next delivery to Harmer at second slip.It precipitated a lower-order collapse as Northamptonshire fell from 147 for 5 to 163 all out. Two balls after Zaib’s wicket, Tom Taylor edged a well-directed short ball from Snater through to Pepper.Allison was back in the action with some sharp work in the field to run out Gareth Berg before angling one back in to castle Sanderson.James Sales struck four boundaries in his 28 to ensure Northamptonshire passed 150. He had an early reprieve when Harmer put him down at second slip, taking a blow to his spinning fingers in the process and requiring attention from the Essex physio. However the young all-rounder eventually became Allison’s fifth victim when he edged to Cook at slip.With the bat, Cook (10) offered two chances to the slips on 0 and 2 but both were missed by Emilio Gay and Young. He was out shortly afterwards when he drilled Sanderson straight to Taylor at cover. It meant he missed out by 34 runs on 1,000 for the season. In his next over Sanderson trapped Tom Westey lbw to leave Essex 23 for 2.Nick Browne (18) looked solid throughout a lengthy stay at the crease, but after facing 63 balls Taylor got one to jag back and knock over his middle stump.Dan Lawrence walked to the crease on a king pair and played and missed to his first ball from Sanderson. He looked skittish early on but started to settle, taking consecutive boundaries off Berg. His downfall came thanks to an ugly looking cut shot off White which flew to Gay who took a stunning diving catch at second slip.White struck again in his next over when he got one to jag back and knock over Feroze Khushi’s stumps, but Matt Critchley, who played some pleasant shots including a drive straight down the ground off Taylor, was unbeaten on 14 at stumps.On a day of presentations, Procter was named player of the year by the Northamptonshire Supporters’ Club and presented with his award at lunch. He has so far scored 959 runs at an average of 56.41 this season with one innings left to bat in this match..At tea Adam Rossington, who skippered Northamptonshire to promotion in 2019, was given a special presentation by the club to mark his eight years of service. He joined Essex on loan earlier this season ahead of signing a permanent deal.

Logistical challenges around Covid mean there are “lots of parts to the jigsaw” for England coach

Alan Gardner17-Jan-2022England’s attempts to regain the Women’s Ashes and defend their 50-over World Cup title during the same winter trip to the southern hemisphere have already taken in a series of logistical challenges, with head coach Lisa Keightley admitting that there are “lots of parts of the jigsaw” still to piece together ahead of the T20I leg starting later this week.The schedule for the Ashes was rearranged earlier this month, with the T20Is moved forward in order to accommodate the quarantine requirements for getting into New Zealand for the World Cup, which begins on March 4. That has left England with just eight days of preparation, with patchy weather in Canberra affecting the squad’s ability to train and off-field concerns adding to the list of distractions.England had to leave a support staff member behind when they departed for Adelaide on Monday due to a positive Covid-19 test, and there are fears on both sides about how the virus could affect their respective World Cup campaigns. The England and Australia squads are due to arrive in New Zealand on February 10, just two days after the completion of the Ashes, and under current guidelines they must enter the country as one group before doing 10 days of quarantine.Related

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With three T20Is, a Test match and three ODIs to be played in just two-and-a-half weeks, Keightley said that rest and rotation was likely to be a factor throughout the Ashes.”There’s a lot of parts of the jigsaw this trip,” she said. “Firstly, we’ve got to see how everyone pulls up each game. I think that’s most important. Second, we’ve sometimes got different players for different formats. So there’s some players potentially getting ready for a Test match now, where other players – we’ve got a selection meeting coming up tonight, before the first [T20I], where we’ve got to make some big decisions.”We’ll be thinking about the World Cup throughout this Ashes. And I think Australia will be too. Yes, we will be concerned that we don’t get injuries and we’ve got full squads to select from, so that will be on the forefront of our mind coming into the back end of the Ashes. We know we’ve got a 10-day quarantine where you don’t want a key player to have injuries because they can’t be treated throughout that 10 days. So there’s a lot of things and sometimes we just have to wait and see how it’s all panning out.”Perfect world they’re all fit come the end and we can select our best team for every game. That’s what we’ll be planning to do, but I’m not hiding away that we do think about, gosh, we want our full squad to be available for the World Cup. That’s for sure. Especially when we’re the holders of it and we want to defend the title.”Mental well-being will also be high on the agenda, with the touring party already having effectively isolated within their households for two weeks before departing for Australia, where bio-security restrictions were tightened while England were in transit.”I really do hold my hand up if someone is in that space and we need to think of their mental health, the cricket comes second,” Keightley said. “We’re trying to look after our staff and players the best we can. We treat them all individually and I think what I’ve learned on this journey of Covid is that everyone’s bucket gets full at different times and you can’t pick it. You think one day they’re okay and you can talk to them two days later and they’re not coping so it is a challenge.”It’s a challenge in sporting teams, and being an athlete over the last 18 months. But we do try our best, we’ve got a fantastic medical support staff who do everything they can to make sure we’re all okay. But it is challenging being in coaching this time as there’s so many moving parts.”From a playing perspective, England’s build-up has been far from perfect (when they have been able to get out on to the field). Three intra-squad practice games were held in Canberra over the weekend – a 35-over fixture that was rain-affected, and two T20s – with England being beaten by England A on all three occasions.Heather Knight, England’s captain, had previously described the squad’s preparation as “pretty average”, with players forced to rope in family members for help with practice in the period before flying out, and Keightley echoed the view that there was work to be done.”I wouldn’t say we’ve started that well, to be totally honest,” Keightley said. “We’re trying to get up to speed as best we can.”With Covid you’ve got to be flexible. You’ve got to change and adapt. We’ve learned that over the last couple of years. We’ve got a really big couple of training [sessions] coming up over the next two days that we’ve got to get right. We’ve got to get the players hitting the ball well and bowling in good areas and sharpening up.”I think the [warm-up] T20s, they were trying to go too early. They wanted to click, wanted to get off and going really well in the practice matches, [but] they probably didn’t do the basics first. Then expand, get up and down, hit the ball in the middle and then go and then build from there. They probably went too early, which didn’t play out that well for us, but they know what they need to do.”We’ve got two good trainings prepped over the next couple of days. So I’m confident when we get to that first T20 they’ll be in a better place than what they are now and we’ll do our best to go 2-0 up.”Having originally planned for the one-off Test in Canberra to be the series opener, Keightley said that adapting mentally would be the key to getting off to a good start in the T20Is. England will also hope early success can help “dim the flame” of Australian expectation, after the men completed a thumping 4-0 victory in their version of the Ashes at the weekend.”I know Australia is very excited about winning the Ashes and we’ve got to turn it around and try and dim the flame, so to speak, and get a few wins on the board and put them under pressure, and get into our Ashes as quick as we can.”

Jay Shah to head influential Finance and Commercial Affairs committee

Nagraj Gollapudi and Tristan Lavalette12-Nov-2022Greg Barclay has been re-elected as ICC chairman for another two-year term after his rival, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani, pulled out of the contest late on Friday. Barclay, who served his first stint as ICC chair between 2022 and this November, will now be in the position until 2024.The election assumed intrigue over the last couple of weeks after Mukuhlani decided to enter the fray despite knowing Barclay had potentially more votes in his favour from the 16-strong ballot. The election rules stated that winner would be determined by a simple majority. Mukuhlani, a long-term director on the ICC board, had at least six backers including some of the smaller countries from the Asian bloc. However, it was the BCCI, as always, which carried a lot of influence over the voting process.Despite stating informally that the board was leaning towards supporting Barclay, the BCCI kept everyone guessing which way they would eventually vote in case of an election. Whilst no one at the ICC has officially spoken, more than one director pointed out to ESPNcricinfo that the BCCI wanted to have a prime seat on the influential Finance & Commercial Affairs committee, which not only decides budget allocations for ICC events, but also looks after the distribution of money to member countries from the overall revenue pool.Accordingly, the BCCI camp led by Jay Shah and Arun Dhumal (IPL chairman) landed in Australia more than a week before the ICC Board meetings happening this weekend in Melbourne. Shah replaced former India captain Sourav Ganguly as the BCCI representative (BCCI president between 2019 till October) on the ICC Board while Dhumal will be sitting on the chief executives committee. More importantly, Shah will also be part of the F&CA and is poised to take over as chair of the committee at its next meeting in March 2023 from Ross McCollum, former Cricket Ireland chair, who is due to retire soon.Ever since the Shashank Manohar-lead ICC dismantled the Big Three power structure in 2017, and put in place a new financial model that enhanced the earnings of smaller Full Member countries, the BCCI has publicly said it would strive to get a bigger share of the ICC revenue pool which recently got much bigger this August after Disney Star* bought the broadcast rights for men’s and women’s events between 2024-27. The deal, to broadcast in the India market only, is reportedly worth over US$3 billion, considerably more than what the ICC got in the previous rights cycle (which was for eight years, and globally). That pot will get more bigger once the ICC sells the broadcast rights in the remaining key markets including the USA, Australia and Europe.Both Barclay and Mukuhlani’s manifestos comprised having a re-look at the financial distribution model as well as advocating changes to the ICC governance structure. While Mukuhlani has pulled out of the ICC chair contest, his camp believes they have secured enough assurances that smaller countries will receive a more significant share from the ICC revenues as well as occupying key positions in the ICC committees. Accordingly, Imran Khawaja, the ICC deputy chair, will retain that post and continue to lead the ICC Development Committee. Khwaja had lost to Barclay in 202 ICC chair elections and had thought of running again before deciding to back Mukuhlani.Mukuhlani himself is part of the ICC’s Audit Committee and chair of the Membership Committee. He is also part of the global body’s Olympics working group, which is tasked with pushing for cricket’s entry in the Summer Games. Mukuhlani said in an ICC media release on Saturday that he decided to “withdraw” because he believed Barclay continuing as ICC chair was “in the best interest of the sport.”On his part, Barclay said his aim would now be to “strengthen” cricket and help it grow beyond the “core markets.””Over the last two years we have made significant strides forward with the launch of our global growth strategy that provides clear direction to build a successful and sustainable future for our sport,” Barclay said.

The Australia quick grabbed four wickets as Western Australia slipped from a promising position

AAP11-Mar-2024Scott Boland returned from New Zealand to help Victoria claim an early advantage in their must-win Sheffield Shield clash with Western Australia.The 34-year-old was an invaluable inclusion for Victoria after being released from Australia’s Test squad having been deemed surplus to requirements for the 2-0 series victory over New Zealand.Related

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Boland toiled away in hot conditions on Monday to take 4 for 41, helping bowl WA out for 244 after Victoria captain Will Sutherland won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.Sutherland’s decision was looking questionable when WA moved to 203 for 4. But Boland, Fergus O’Neill (3-48) and spinner Todd Murphy (2-54) helped trigger a collapse of 6 for 41.”I would have liked to have stayed over in New Zealand if I was playing, but there was an opportunity to play back here,” Boland said. “I’ve spent so much time carrying the drinks this year so it’s been nice to be back on the field. Credit to our whole bowling group, we stuck to our plans that we wanted to implement to their batters.”Most of the WA top-order got starts, but Jayden Goodwin finished top scorer with 43. Aaron Hardie and Hilton Cartwright battled hard during their knocks but could never settleVictoria had to face five overs before stumps, losing in-form opener Nic Maddinson to Cameron Gannon for 2.Former Test batter Peter Handscomb is due to come in at No. 5 in his 100th Shield match.Dual reigning champions, WA need to avoid losing to be assured of reaching a third successive decider. Sitting second on the table, the visitors can still make the final with a draw.But Victoria – one place lower on the ladder – will be pushing hard to force a result after losing the last two finals against WA.Tasmania, who last won a Shield title in 2012-13, are in the box seat to host the final after losing just once this season.

Opener makes unbeaten 50 to defeat Worcestershire by DLS method

ECB Reporters Network14-Jun-2024Nottinghamshire 100 for 3 (Hales 50*) beat Worcestershire 141 for 6 (Hose 43) by 1 run – DLSAlex Hales helped Nottinghamshire celebrate their first win of the summer in the Vitality Blast after overcoming Worcestershire Rapids by one run under the Duckworth-Lewis Method at Visit Worcestershire New Road.The Outlaws had lost their opening five matches in the competition including the meeting with the Rapids at Trent Bridge nine days ago. But a disciplined bowling performance by their seamers restricted the home side to 141 for 6 under heavy skies.Then Hales batted responsibly to ensure there was little threat of Notts falling behind the Duckworth-Lewis Method. He scored 50 not out from 37 balls to guide his side to victory by the narrowest of margins.For Worcestershire it was a third successive defeat.Nottinghamshire captain Joe Clarke won the toss and elected to bowl first on a fresh hybrid pitch which was two-paced in nature. He persevered with all-pace during the powerplay and was rewarded with three wickets.Ben Lister made the first breakthrough when Worcestershire Club captain, Brett D’Oliveira, top-edged a catch to third man. Josh Cobb was then trapped lbw by Matt Montgomery working to leg and Matthew Waite pulled Olly Stone into the hands of deep mid wicket.Worcestershire were restricted to 27 for 3 in the first six overs and it became 42 for 4 when Ethan Brookes went to cut and was bowled.The Rapids broke the shackles in the 15th over from Lyndon James which yielded 15 runs with Nathan Smith smashing a six over long off.Adam Hose and Nathan Smith added 69 for the fifth wicket with the latter striking maximums off Lyndon James and Calvin Harrison. But Harrison brome the stand when Smith perished on the deep midwicket boundary.Hose battled away to make 43 off 35 balls before he holed out to long on in the penultimate over from Ben Lister.Worcestershire’s new ball attack of Smith and Tom Taylor bowled accurately and the latter made the breakthrough when Joe Clarke (26) lost his middle stump.Run-scoring was again not a straightforward process on this surface and the increasingly leaden skies meant Nottinghamshire had one eye on Duckworth Lewis.Hales ensured they moved comfortably ahead with two sixes in the opening over from Cobb. But West Indian spinner, Hayden Walsh, struck in his first over when he bowled Will Young to leave the game again in the balance.Walsh made it two wickets in two overs as Haynes went for a reverse-sweep and was lbw.But Hales again wrestled the initiative for his side with two enormous pulls over the midwicket boundary at Walsh’s expense to edge Notts in front.

The middle order had given the home side some impetus but the weather had a final say

Ekanth25-Feb-2025 – No resultA second washout in three games handed Zimbabwe a 1-0 T20I series win to end their home summer on a high. There was space for just one innings as rain delayed the toss by 45 minutes and then returned during the innings break to have the final word.Zimbabwe had a stop-start innings after being put into bat in the 18-overs-a-side contest. They stretched their way to 142 thanks to Sikandar Raza taking control after having come in at 18 for 2, before Tashinga Musekiwa and Tony Munyonga’s cameos provided late acceleration.Craig Young and Gareth Delany picked up two wickets each for Ireland. The bowlers did have trouble gripping the moist ball, but managed to keep the run rate at a shade under eight an over.The evening started with Paul Stirling winning the toss and Ireland striking twice in the first three overs. Young found seam movement to have Tadiwanashe Marumani caught behind. Matthew Humphreys then darted in an arm ball from around the wicket to smash Wessly Madhevere’s stumps.Raza started off with a streaky boundary over short third before going through a couple of tense moments. He was in pain after edging a mistimed pull on to his leg, he survived an lbw call off Josh Little in the seventh over, and an edge off his bat didn’t carry to wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker in the eighth.He did dispatch a Fionn Hand slower ball over long-on and pumped Humphreys for a four and a six. But when he tried a flat-bat hit off Delany, the ball seemed to hold up in the pitch and ended up in Harry Tector’s hands at long-on.Delany got Brian Bennett four balls later with a ball that bounced low to take an edge and flatten leg stump as Zimbabwe slumped to 67 for 4. However, that was the only over Delany bowled for the day.Munyonga got a fortunate boundary in the 11th over as debutant Tim Tector, at long-on, came in too close and the ball soared over him for a boundary. Ryan Burl offered two near chances in the following over off Hand, neither of which carried to the outfielders running in. The duo picked up seven twos, four of them in the 13th over, in their 27-run stand. That was broken by Little, who had Burl caught at deep third.Musekiwa launched Young for two sixes in the 15th over, the first of which brought up Zimbabwe’s hundred, before pulling a half-tracker from Little into the grass banks. Musekiwa got a free hit after Hand, in a bid to keep the ball out of the arc, delivered a ball so wide that it was outside the cut strip. But a wide later, he missed out on a full-toss free hit.Munyonga had near chances in the 16th over, both of which resulted in twos, but fell to Young in the final over, trying to swipe the ball over long-on. Wellington Masakadza got a boundary off his first ball, but Young bowled four yorkers on the bounce to keep the batters quiet.With dew around, Ireland would have fancied their chances of chasing down the total and ensuring that Zimbabwe finished their home summer without a series win, but it was not to be.

Lead selector Desmond Haynes indicated Darren had been left out to give opportunities to younger players keeping the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind

S Sudarshanan21-Nov-2023Dwayne Bravo has hit out at West Indies selectors, saying that “the system failed again” after his brother Darren Bravo was excluded from the ODI squad against England.”When will the BS [sic] stop?! I’m not surprised by my brother’s non-selection, but with the recent changes in WI cricket management, I held onto a bit of hope for the better,” Dwayne posted on Instagram. “This is NOT acceptable, and I just can’t make sense of it! So here are my burning questions: What’s the criteria for West Indies team selection? Surely, it can’t be solely based on performance?”Darren was the leading run-scorer in the Super50 Cup 2023 that concluded earlier this month and captained Trinidad & Tobago to the title. He scored 416 runs in the competition at an average of 83.20 and a strike rate of 92.03, batting at No. 3, and was one of the two players with over 400 runs in the competition. Bravo also was among the leading run-scorers for Trinidad & Tobago last season in the 50-over competition with 240 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 76.92.Following the squad announcement on Monday, West Indies’ lead selector Desmond Haynes indicated Darren, 34, had been left out to give opportunities to younger players keeping the 2027 ODI World Cup in mind.”It was a very tough decision for us to make as a panel,” Haynes said of Darren’s omission. “Darren has proven, not only this year but last year as well in the Super50 tournament, to be somebody who has performed well at this level. But we have invested in players like Alick Athanaze and Keacy Carty.”We also had to take into consideration that the World Cup 2027 is something that we have got in mind. We believe that we have invested in these players, and we need to give the opportunity to play against a very strong England side. That is the reason why Darren has been omitted.”Dwayne accused the selection panel of “mistreatment” and “disrespect” towards players.”I usually stay away from these discussions, but the mistreatment, disrespect, and dishonesty towards players over the years demand a voice. When will it stop?” he wrote.”To Mr. Desmond Haynes, your statement didn’t surprise me. It feels like another former player singing for his supper. I hoped for trust in the system with figures like you, Sammy, and the new director of cricket, but the system failed again. To my brother, this too shall pass. Keep your head up, stay focused, and trust in the Almighty.”While Darren was excluded, Kjorn Ottley, 33, was picked for the first time since 2021 as a back-up opener after Justin Greaves was ruled out with injury. Ottley made his ODI debut in Bangladesh in January 2021 and scored 25 across two games before being left out. But he put in a strong performance in the Super50 Cup this year with 317 runs while opening the batting. Only Greaves and Darren had scored more runs than Ottley this season.”You got to look at the roles that you want the player to play,” Haynes said. “Kjorn Ottley was included in the team as we had an injury to Justin Greaves. We thought we wanted somebody to bat up front and that’s the reason why Ottley got picked.”It is also important to have people playing in our domestic season and doing well. We keep saying all the time, our pool is not that big. I also mentioned about investing in young players like Athanaze, Keacy Carty. If we do the knee-jerk reaction where we just decided to invest in guys one year and then get rid of them next year, I am not too sure if that’s good for the development.”Hayden Walsh topped the bowling charts in the Super50 Cup 2023•AFP/Getty Images

Haynes: Hayden Walsh was very close to selection

After unimpressive outings in ODIs against India at home and Pakistan away as well as the T20Is against New Zealand at home last year, legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr was left out of the West Indies side and was not selected for the T20 World Cup in Australia. Ahead of the CPL 2023, he switched from Barbados Royals to Jamaica Tallawahs, but played just two matches.After he was dropped last year, Haynes said he had asked him to look at his bowling footage in order to work on his shortcomings.”Last season I was the first to go to Hayden when he lost his confidence and I suggested ‘get a camera to look at you, where you are bowling’,” Haynes said. “I thought at the time he was not bowling well and need some assistance from the outside just to have a look at him.”This year I can tell you that I am very impressed with the way the ball was coming out of Hayden in this competition. We even made the suggestion to the West Indies Cricket Board to have Hayden in the 16 and he is going to be in Antigua for the camp.”Walsh returned to form with both bat and ball in the Super50 Cup bagging 20 wickets – joint-most in the tournament with Sunil Narine – and scoring 222 runs with two fifties and a strike rate of 100.45. Against West Indies Academy, he came in with Leeward Islands at 157 for 6 and scored an unbeaten 60 off 55 to lift them to 239. He then picked up five wickets to help his side win by 66 runs.Related

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His second fifty came in a similarly tough situation in the semi-final against Barbados. Walsh scored 57 off just 45 to help Leeward Islands recover from 179 for 6 to post 290.”We were very impressed with Hayden,” Haynes said. “He used to be a two-dimensional player. He batted very well for Leeward Islands, came in at some crucial times and gave Leeward Islands a really good partnership and get them some good runs. We were very impressed with his batting as well.”Hayden was very close to selection, and I am happy he has got back his form. He is bowling well and is always going to be in our plans.”Haynes also said that he was told Jason Holder “is involved only in T20 and Tests” and is not available for ODIs.

Former England captain opts to move on as ECB announces boardroom changes

Vithushan Ehantharajah28-Apr-2023The ECB has announced that Andrew Strauss will stand down as a strategic advisor and chair of the performance cricket committee, part of a swathe of boardroom-level changes announced on Friday.Strauss, the former England captain, has fulfilled both duties since September 2020, and has been regarded as a respected figurehead throughout the English game, particularly given his strong links with many of the current players. He previously served as director of England men’s cricket between 2015 and 2018, then again in an interim capacity between February and May 2022.Strauss recently oversaw the men’s High-Performance Review, established after a 4-0 defeat in the 2021-22 Ashes, which set out 17 recommendations for English cricket to consider and implement. But two of the review’s major planks – the proposed reduction of County Championship matches and dedicated windows for domestic limited-overs cricket – were not passed after failing to achieve the minimum backing of at least 12 of the 18 counties.Related

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Having taken on external responsibilities, Strauss has opted to move on from the ECB. He will officially stand down at the board’s Annual General Meeting next month.In a statement, Strauss said: “I’ve really enjoyed my time at the ECB and am proud of having contributed to a successful period for our England teams. With increasing commitments outside of the organisation, sadly I’ve decided it’s time to step away from my current role. I wish the new board all the very best as it continues in its mission to grow our game.”ECB chief executive Richard Thompson offered his thanks: “Andrew has given outstanding service to English cricket over many years in a number of different roles. I’ve greatly valued the advice and expertise he has provided in my time as chair, and have enjoyed working with him. We are currently implementing the vast majority of recommendations from his impressive High Performance Review, which I believe will help our England men’s teams to sustain their success. I have no doubt he has much more to contribute to the game and hope he will return in the future.”The ECB has also added four new non-executive directors to the board: Penny Avis, Baroness Zahida Manzoor, Jennifer Owen Adams and Gareth Williams.Avis, currently the senior independent director at the PGA European Tour, and Baroness Manzoor, chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service, will become independent non-executive directors. Adams, the current chair of Cricket Wales, and Williams, chair of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, will join as cricket non-executive directors. The appointments of two further cricket non-executive directors will be confirmed in due courseOn the new appointments, Thompson said: “It gives me great pleasure in welcoming Zahida, Jennifer, Penny and Gareth onto our Board. They are all exceptional leaders with demonstrable strategic experience and expertise across a range of different fields, and are all passionate about our sport.”The ECB is privileged to be able to call upon their knowledge, communication skills, integrity, judgement, and independence. We look forward to having all four leading and supporting the growth of cricket in England and Wales at this vital time for our game, as we seek to make cricket the most inclusive sport in the UK.”

October 15, the original date for the match, is the first day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, so the game could now be played a day before on October 14

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Jul-2023In a move that could impact the overall ODI World Cup schedule, the BCCI is considering moving the most high-profile match of the tournament – India vs Pakistan in Ahmedabad – from October 15 to October 14.The reason for the change, ESPNcricinfo has learned, is that October 15 is also the first day of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, and the local police has told the BCCI that it would find it difficult to take care of security on the day.It is understood that the BCCI has alerted the ICC about the issue, but no concrete decision has been taken yet. The BCCI is expected to have a meeting with all the state associations that are hosting World Cup matches on July 27 before a final call is taken.Related

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The original World Cup schedule has October 14 down as a double-header day: England play Afghanistan in a day match in Delhi and New Zealand play Bangladesh in day-night game in Chennai. Incidentally, there are no triple-headers scheduled, though there are two matches on six days.India, who open their World Cup campaign on October 8 with a game against Australia in Chennai, would have also played Afghanistan on October 11 in Delhi before the game against Pakistan, while their next fixture is against Bangladesh on October 19 in Pune.As for Pakistan, they play Netherlands in Hyderabad on October 6, the second day of the tournament, and Sri Lanka on October 12, also in Hyderabad, before playing India, followed by their fourth game, against Australia in Bengaluru on October 20.Therefore, in case the game moves to October 14, Pakistan will have just a day between their games in Hyderabad and in Ahmedabad, while India will have two days’ gap.The development comes roughly a month after the BCCI announced the World Cup schedule, which itself was severely delayed. While the BCCI has not yet announced any information on when matches tickets will go on sale, fans and other stakeholders have already booked flights and hotels in Ahmedabad for the match, which has historically been one of the most watched sporting events globally.

Coach Shelley Nitschke is wary of the unknowns but does not want Australia to look to far ahead of themselves

Andrew McGlashan18-Dec-2023Australia are keeping an open mind about what conditions they could face in their Test against India at Wankhede Stadium but are ready to embrace anything that is thrown at them.Shelley Nitschke, Australia’s coach, noted the “challenging” pitch that was on offer for the England game at DY Patil Stadium last week where the visitors were bundled out for 136 and 131. And she expects spin to again play a major role during Australia’s first Test in the country since 1984.They have trained at the Wankhede Stadium since arriving and had a 50-over practice match on Sunday but are still facing distinct unknowns about what will be provided for the Test.Related

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“It’s a tough one to prepare for,” Nitschke said. “The girls are coming off the back of a WBBL, and looks like we are going to get some really traditional subcontinent conditions but it’s also really exciting. Think everyone is just embracing the challenge. We are just doing whatever we can to prepare.”Think it will just be a matter of how quickly that pitch deteriorates. It’s a matter of adapting on the run and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, thinking that it will do something. We are trying not to read too much into it, but we certainly know what way it could go but it will be interesting how much it does change across the four days.”With all that in mind, there remains a lot to play out in terms of how Australia will structure their side although the number of allrounders in the squad gives them plenty of options. All four spinners – Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Jess Jonassen and Alana King – could feature with top-order batters Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath adding to the seam-bowling depth alongside fellow allrounder Annabel Sutherland.Nitschke confirmed that Alyssa Healy, the new permanent captain, was on track to lead the side and keep wickets following her recovery from the finger injury caused by a dog bite which ruled her out of the majority of the WBBL. She did not take the gloves in the warm-up match as part of a measured return to action but hit a half-century.Lauren Cheatle’s left-arm angle could provide a point of difference•PA Photos/Getty Images

“Everything is looking really positive, so fingers crossed it keeps going that way over the next three or four days,” Nitschke said. “Unless there’s some significant change think Midge [Healy] will be leading at the first day of the Test.”Australia are in effect selecting from 13 players for the Test with allrounder Heather Graham having just arrived after staying at home to play two WNCL matches. Megan Schutt is not yet with the squad having previously conceded her Test days were behind her and Grace Harris is only part of the T20s.If they go very spin-heavy, it could mean room for just one of the frontline quicks between Darcie Brown, Lauren Cheatle and Kim Garth.”We’ve certainly got a lot of options and a number of allrounders,” Nitschke said. “We aren’t really clear on where that will land at the moment, we have some decisions to make.”Left-arm fast bowler Cheatle, who last played for Australia in 2019, impressed during the one-day warm-up match with 4 for 19 and would provide a point of difference with her angle (although could exacerbate rough for the spinners outside the right-handers’ off stump) while Brown has extra pace and Garth can offer swing.The only Test between India and Australia starts on December 21 in Mumbai.