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Dismissal of Joe Root the highlight of final day, as Yorkshire dig deep to secure draw

Paul Edwards15-May-2022
Rather like Britt in , world-class sportspeople compete with themselves. Victories matter, of course; trophies matter, too; and yes, money matters, for they all know there must come a life after sport. But overarching all these things there is a private battle, one that is not always acknowledged, to satisfy a personal demand for excellence, even if one’s performance already soars far above one’s contemporaries. This afternoon, in a drawn Roses match at Headingley, James Anderson revealed something of the fires that drive him on, even at the age of 39, when most cricketers are merely talking about their careers or telling others how to do it.In team games it is impossible to satisfy those personal demands if one is not selected. However, for most sportspeople the diminution in one’s contribution to the collective effort is obvious some time before the axe falls. Anderson, though, clearly believes he was nowhere near that chastening realisation when he was recently omitted from the England party to tour West Indies, and this match against Yorkshire has given him opportunities to prove his point to Joe Root, the man who was at least complicit in the decision to leave him at home.The last such opportunity arrived shortly after lunch on this last day of a match Lancashire dominated. Despite Root’s very fine 147 in Yorkshire’s first innings, the home side had been made to follow on 187 runs behind and their second effort had begun badly. Just as he had been in the first innings, Adam Lyth was leg before to an in-ducker from Tom Bailey; the only difference this time was that Lyth was playing a shot of sorts.The hour’s cricket that followed was intense. Bailey and Anderson strove to make the breakthroughs their team needed but were resisted by George Hill and Dawid Malan. Runs were, for the moment, secondary to survival on a day when Yorkshire effectively needed to bat out the best part of three sessions if they were to avoid defeat. About twenty minutes before lunch Vilas made a double change and the tension slackened slightly. Yorkshire ended the first session on 39 for one after 17 overs; it felt like an achievement.It was also temporary. Anderson returned to the attack from the Howard Stand End immediately after lunch and beat Malan twice in four balls. The fifth brought the batter forward and induced the edge to Phil Salt – or so Mark Saggers adjudged. Malan’s plainly dissenting opinion was of no consequence. Anderson celebrated with his colleagues and then went back to his mark to bowl at the former captain of England.That private-public duel lasted ten balls. The first was well defended, the fifth beat Root all ends up and the ninth was skilfully guided without risk to the third man boundary. The tenth was as quick as the others, which is to say around 80mph. It kept a little low but crucially it nipped back though a gate that was closed all too late. It crashed into the middle and off stumps and flattened them.Anderson held his right arm aloft, leapt in triumph and then clenched his fists at his side in a manner that brings delight to the Barmy Army. Revenge? I think not. Point made? Oh, certainly. For there was a momentary glance towards the departing Root. There were, so far as we could gather, no words. But then Anderson’s bowling possesses eloquence beyond language. Watch him closely again, in the flesh if you can, and see for yourself. He has been among the glories of our sporting age.The remainder of Anderson’s second six-over spell of the day was similarly accurate but threatening deliveries were well defended by Hill and Harry Brook. England’s finest bowler came off with figures of 12-6-11-2. They are par for that particular course. They may even have satisfied him.Lancashire made only one more breakthrough in the afternoon session, Hill falling to a short ball once again, when his very limp pull shot to a ball from Luke Wood merely edged a catch to Salt. Anderson returned for three overs before tea and had Harry Brook dropped on 30 by Wood at square leg. It proved a vital miss. Shortly after tea, Brook reached his seventh half-century in eight first-class innings this season. In the evening session he watched from the other end as Harry Duke was brilliantly caught by Luke Wells at slip and Dom Bess was snaffled by Jennings at short leg. Both these wickets were taken by Matt Parkinson, for whom this was an excellent all-round match.But Brook is quite clearly a young batsman of high calibre. When the draw was agreed with seven overs left to be bowled, he was unbeaten on 82 and his aggregate for the season is currently 758 at an average of 151.6. But what one notices is the time he has in which to play his shots and the ease with which he does so. There is, surely, every chance that he will play his first Test against New Zealand. James Anderson, meanwhile, will be playing his 170th. The England cap will be back where it belongs.

Two T20Is in Karachi, in first visit for 16 years, will form part of T20 World Cup build-up

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2020England’s men’s team will make their first visit to Pakistan in 16 years when they play two T20Is in Karachi on October 14 and 15, 2021.As reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier this week, England’s plans for a short stop-over in January had to be shelved due to a lack of space in a crowded itinerary, with England also due to tour Sri Lanka and India in the first months of 2021, and with several players committed to T20I franchise deals during the same period.But following talks between the ECB and PCB, it has now been agreed that England will fit in the visit as part of their preparations for the T20 World Cup in India next year. The squad will arrive in Karachi on October 12, and both teams will depart for India on October 16 for the start of a tournament that is expected to culminate in mid-November.England last toured Pakistan in 2005 when they played three Tests and five ODIs. The subsequent series between the two sides in 2012 and 2015 were played in the United Arab Emirates.Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, said: “It’s a real pleasure to announce that the England men’s IT20 squad will be playing in Pakistan in October 2021. This will be the first time since 2005 that an England team has toured Pakistan and as such it represents a significant moment for both nations.”As was demonstrated this summer, we have a strong relationship with PCB and ECB is delighted to be able to play our part in ensuring the safe return of international cricket to this wonderful nation of passionate cricket fans.”As always, the safety and welfare of our players and staff will be paramount. We are working closely with the PCB to ensure all the necessary plans are in place, especially concerning the anticipated levels of security around the team, the proposed travel protocols and of course the situation regarding the fast-moving and ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic.”The two-match series will serve as ideal preparation for the England team leading into an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup taking place in India during October and November 2021.”England had already been scheduled to play a Test series in Pakistan in late 2022, but the PCB had expressed their desire for a visit sooner than that to show the ECB’s support for the return of international cricket to the country.With Pakistan’s players having endured less than perfect conditions in helping England fulfil their international fixtures in 2020, there was a sense that the ECB owed Pakistan a reciprocal favour. The ECB subsequently confirmed that a white-ball tour of Bangladesh in the same period is expected to go ahead as planned.Wasim Khan, PCB Chief Executive, added: “I am delighted to confirm that England will be touring Pakistan to play two T20s in October 2021. This will be their first visit to Pakistan for 16 years and will open the door for both Test and White Ball tours in the 2022-23 season.”The full-strength England squad will arrive at the back-end of our home white-ball series against New Zealand. We also expect Australia to visit Pakistan for their FTP commitment in early 2022, with England returning for both Test and White Ball tours in the 2022-23 season.”The October 2021 T20Is will allow the leading England cricketers to access and examine the world-class arrangements we will put together, which will give them further encouragement and confidence to not only return in 2022-23 but also express their interest in the Pakistan Super League, which has grown to become one of the top leagues in the world.”England’s visit to Pakistan for the 14 and 15 October 2021 T20Is will provide further lift to our passionate fans, both in Pakistan and across the globe. The nation has waited patiently for cricket to return sustainably to Pakistan and the 2021 tours by South Africa, New Zealand and England will only ensure international cricket is played uninterruptedly.”The enhanced progress made over the last two years has been down to nurturing relationships with various cricket boards and international players, as well as building trust and confidence.”The ECB’s confirmation further endorses Pakistan as safe and secure. Importantly, this announcement speaks volumes for the relationship that we have with the ECB and I would like to thank the ECB for their strong will and desire to make this short tour a reality.”England’s visit in 2021 is an outcome of the PCB’s efforts and hard work to ensure Pakistan cricket continues to move in the right direction.”

Yorkshire collapse on third afternoon as Somerset resume place at Championship summit

Paul Edwards at Taunton12-Sep-2019
If any delivery before the last can decide the outcome of a cricket match, such a ball was bowled a few seconds before lunch at Taunton on the third day of this game. It was delivered by Jamie Overton and pitched on a good length before nipping away sharply from Gary Ballance. Not however, so sharply that it did not catch the edge of the bat and Steve Davies completed the dismissal of Yorkshire’s best batsman. Needing 426 to win, the visitors were 47 for two and rocking like a punch-drunk middleweight.Thus it was really no surprise when, at just on quarter past three, Dom Bess sprinted back from point to take the catch which had been skied off Duanne Olivier’s bat and thereby completed the 298-run victory which will keep Somerset at the top of the table going into the penultimate round of matches. We will not know their exact lead until Essex have completed their business at EdgbastonThe shrewd locals at Taunton had read the signs a couple of hours before their team finished their annihilation of Yorkshire. Permitted to walk on the outfield for the first time in this game during the luncheon interval, Somerset supporters assumed a proprietorial air, perhaps pondering the possibility that in a fortnight’s time the County Ground would also be the home of the County champions. The clouds curtaining distant fields parted and September sunlight scampered across the Blackdown Hills. The Quantocks, roughly quartered as ever and quilted in their early autumn finery, displayed a new abundance. “Bright robes of gold the fields adorn, / The hills with joy are ringing,” wrote the hymnodist, William C Dix. “The valleys stand so thick with corn / That even they are singing.”They weren’t singing in the Colin Atkinson Pavilion this lunchtime; title or no title, Somerset’s mighty carvery deserves serious attention. But they were feeling even happier a couple of overs into the afternoon session when Jonny Tattersall tried to let a ball from Overton pass his bat but only edged a catch to James Hildreth at slip. The bowler’s celebration was a trifle ungainly – there is a lot of young Overton to manoeuvre about the place – but he has had a fine game and had swooped smoothly to catch Adam Lyth off Josh Davey, a dismissal which began Yorkshire’s decline to their fifth-heaviest defeat in terms of runs.In the rest of what became a shortened afternoon session that decline became a headlong plummet, albeit one assisted by a cheerful shove from Davey, whose innings analysis, 5 for 21, and match figures, 8 for 51, were both career bests. He is the eighth Somerset bowler to take five wickets in a championship innings this season; the statisticians think this is the first time this has happened since 1959.Davey stuck to a line just outside the off stump and gained further rewards when Tom Kohler-Cadmore pushed tentatively and nicked a catch to Hildreth. Harry Brook lost his stump to an arm ball from Roelof van der Merwe of which he could scarcely have made more of a horlicks and Tim Bresnan was run out by Bess’s throw from backward point after a mix-up with Kohler-Cadmore.In fairness, Yorkshire were handicapped by the fact that Ben Coad took no part in the last three days of the game and Will Fraine’s knee injury prevented him batting with any freedom at all. But this was Somerset’s day just as it may be Somerset’s season. Injuries do not explain a 298-run thrashing.And there was a fair bit of thrashing going on during the first hour of this morning’s cricket when the home side added 60 runs in 15.2 overs for the loss of their last five wickets. At least one reassuring verity was maintained: Keshav Maharaj took five wickets against Somerset for the fourth time in six innings, thereby becoming Yorkshire’s most successful bowler in championship cricket this season with 38 victims in five matches.However, his successes cost the South African 122 runs, 12 of which came in two reverse sweeps by van der Merwe, and the South African was not the only Yorkshire bowler to be treated roughly on this third morning. Overton hit Steve Patterson for a fine straight six and then an even bigger one over long-on. He thus became the seventh Somerset batsman to clear the ropes in this innings. Arthur Wellard would be proud.There is, of course, every chance that all current and former Somerset cricketers will be proud men in a couple of weeks’ time. They will be joined by many thousands of locals for whom cricket is a part of their life. In his poem “Cricket Days” Clifford Bax recalls village matches and then muses on the extent to which the game comes to count for more than itself; the last two lines has nothing and everything to do with cricket:“We stored a joy that would last forever – like Arab merchants that fill their gourds

With crystal water from some white city and then set forth to the desert sand.”Maybe that’s the point about cricket in Somerset. The club has known fearfully rough times but most spectators have stuck with the team. The supporters have passed through puberty, grown up, graduated, got married, had children and retired – sometimes even in that order. And yet each springtime has seen them making their way down James St. for another season watching boys. They will be taking that same walk on perhaps four autumn mornings in a fortnight’s time, wondering, yet again, if this will be the year when even the combes will be singing.

After early starts led to a dramatic dip in attendance last year for weekend double-headers, the organisers decided to push this season’s three games to the evening

Peter Della Penna24-Jul-2018This August will mark the third straight summer that a few Caribbean Premier League matches will be played in Florida. Even though the overall number of matches played at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill keeps shrinking – from six in 2016 to four in 2017 and now three in 2018 – organisers are hoping to rebuild the on-ground fan experience by scheduling this year’s slate as floodlit games in primetime.After a pair of weekend sellouts in 2016, crowds dipped dramatically for last year’s pair of weekend double-headers that featured Jamaica Tallawahs, St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents. The Sunday twin-bill had an especially poor turnout of approximately 2500 in the 10,000 capacity stadium after the sweltering heat from day one managed to turn away fans from coming back for the next game 24 hours later. CPL chief executive Damien O’Donohue said it left them no choice but to make this year’s matches with evening starts.”There’s so many factors to be considered when you’re hosting these games and everything is a learning curve,” O’Donohue told ESPNcricinfo. “The single-biggest factor is that we were playing games in over 100-degree heat and people just aren’t going to come out in South Florida for that. You see that for baseball, you see that for other sports there. It’s not a well-attended part of the world for sports activities, especially in August and September.”In 2016, there were two games with 7pm starts on Thursday and Friday, which had modest attendance as most fans flew in from New York and Toronto to be there for the sold-out weekend matches. Those weeknight crowd figures turned off organisers from continuing with weeknight games, considering that the cost to hire supplemental light fixtures was $250,000 to support the limited permanent floodlights in place at the stadium.Eliminating the floodlight cost for 2017 by scheduling early day time double-headers on the weekend saved the CPL tremendously in operational costs. According to a source, the CPL lost money in both years of staging games in Florida but lost less money in 2017 than they did in 2016 – in spite of far smaller attendance figures last year – primarily due to the bill for extra floodlights in 2016.Since the Tallawahs are now the hosts for all three games in Florida for 2018, as opposed to every game being a neutral match earlier, the franchise picked up the floodlight bill off the CPL to offset central operating costs for matches starting at 8pm on August 18 against Guyana Amazon Warriors and 6pm on August 19 and 22 against Trinbago Knight Riders and Tridents.Ticket prices, which were raised 50% last year in the grandstand from $42 to $65, have also been slashed dramatically in an effort to encourage fans to come back to their 2016 numbers. General admission tickets are priced at $25 and grandstand tickets at $40, while specially priced tickets for kids 12 and under are being offered for the first time at $15 and $20 respectively.”Playing in the middle of the day, I don’t think it worked for players and it certainly didn’t work for fans,” CPL chief operating officer Pete Russell said. “I think the lights were obviously a key part of the change and the fact that we were able to get the lights meant that we’ve gone with the schedule that we’ve got.”The challenge then for us is what is the cost of putting the lights in. Fortunately for us, we now have someone there who has decided to commit to putting the lights in for these games because that’s a big investment. The reason we switched it back is because fans didn’t like the experience and that’s not good for us.”Another contributing factor that hurt attendance last year was that Trinbago Knight Riders, the franchise with the largest fan base especially for those traveling in from New York and Toronto, did not come to Florida. Russell says that the league strongly urged the Tallawahs ownership that Knight Riders were part of the Florida ticket.”We spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons and just felt that was better,” Russell said. “St Kitts was better in Jamaica because of the Chris Gayle factor and we didn’t think St Lucia would do the same numbers in Florida that it hopefully would in Jamaica.”O’Donohue believes they may not be able to turn a profit in Florida until there is stronger support from a governance perspective, including more support from the ICC to make it successful countrywide as opposed to isolating events to Florida or other hubs. He thinks a major ICC event needs to be hosted in the USA to spur growth akin to football’s rise after the 1994 FIFA World Cup.”It’ll be great come November or December when we get clarity in terms of what ICC Americas see the future as for cricket in the USA,” O’Donohue said. “I think it needs to be a collective thing with whoever has the rights to an American league or potentially the CPL expand with franchises into America. We’ve had the model work for [football] in the USA and I think that needs to be applied for cricket. Obviously, stadiums are one big issue and the lack of them and I think the ICC need to invest quite heavily in the USA with a 10-year plan to host a World Cup there in 10 or 12 years time and we all build toward that.”O’Donohue and Russell both say they are keeping a close eye on the USA Cricket elections because of the impact it may have on the CPL’s ability to play in Florida or anywhere else in the USA in the coming years. The CPL as well as ventures like the 2015 Cricket All-Stars tour, and West Indies T20Is against India in 2016 and Bangladesh next month, have only been sanctioned by the ICC after the USACA was suspended and subsequently expelled as the ICC’s Associate national governing body in the USA. As such, there is a bit of uncertainty as to what happens when the ICC transitions control once again to the new USA cricket board that is installed after inaugural elections conclude on July 29.

Going into the deciding third ODI in Providence, Pakistan will hope they can maintain their record of not having lost a bilateral ODI series to West Indies since 1991

The Preview by Danyal Rasool10-Apr-2017

Match facts

April 11, 2017
Start time 09:30 local (13:30 GMT)Evin Lewis has been frustratingly inconsistent either side of his 51-ball 91 in the third T20I•AFP

Big Picture

Pakistan ended a run of four consecutive ODI defeats with a thumping win in the second ODI against the West Indies. In doing so, they ensured that whatever the outcome of the deciding contest, they will remain in the eighth and final automatic qualification place for the 2019 World Cup at the end of the series. However, this alone is unlikely to satisfy their legion of fans, many of whom had been expecting the series against a significantly weakened West Indies side to be a cakewalk. Instead, it has become a bit of a dogfight, and anything less than a win for Pakistan to protect a proud 26-year unbeaten series record against their hosts would be seen as a failure.West Indies will bemoan a failure to keep wickets in hand to give themselves a chance of chasing down Pakistan in the second ODI. Much of that was down to a tactically odd – poor, frankly – decision to take the attack to Pakistan’s bowlers right from the start, and continue to do so in spite of losing wickets in clumps. As such, they were well out of the game before their innings reached the halfway mark, and meant that Ashley Nurse and Jason Holder’s rearguards weren’t going to do any more than restore respectability in defeat. The good news for them is they have one more chance to seal a series win, and because of that, the decider can safely be billed as the biggest limited-overs home game they will play this season.

Form guide

West Indies LWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WLLLL

In the spotlight

Evin Lewis has been riding the wave of his 51-ball 91 in the third T20I, but he has endured a frustrating lack of consistency around that knock. He scored 29 runs in three ODIs against England earlier this season, and, aside from that 91, has only managed one international score above 15 this year – 47 in the first ODI against Pakistan. The 25-year old’s talent is obvious to anyone who remembers his demolition of the Indian bowling attack in Florida last year, where a 49-ball century set his side up for a one-run win. He could be due another explosive innings, and with the series on the line, the third ODI wouldn’t be a bad time to get going.Sarfraz Ahmed got a fair bit of attention during the second ODI, despite a fairly quiet game both with bat and behind the gloves. What caught people’s eyes (or more accurately, ears) were his bellowed instructions to fielders almost every single ball, and his hands-on approach with the bowlers, particularly Shadab Khan. Despite Pakistan looking set for a comfortable win, the skipper looked unhappy for most of the West Indies’ innings, and much of the body language appeared, at least to an outsider, to be damagingly negative. The third match is a pressure game, and there will be plenty of focus on the newly appointed ODI captain to get the best out of his side, and whether he changes his approach in order to do that. It hasn’t helped that the 29-year old has had a quiet period with the bat that has carried on from the PSL, and though it has slipped under the radar so far, it is unlikely to remain that way for too much longer.Junaid Khan bowled better than his figures suggested in the second ODI, and should keep his place for the decider•Getty Images

Team news

Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul has been added to the squad as cover for fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who was seen clutching his hamstring during the second ODI and left the field after finishing his ten overs. Gabriel is scheduled to undergo treatment and will have a fitness test on the morning of the match. The hosts, however, do have a like-for-like replacement in Miguel Cummins, who may make his first appearance this series.West Indies (possible): 1 Evin Lewis, 2 Chadwick Walton, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Shai Hope (wk), 5 Jason Mohammad, 6 Jonathan Carter, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Devendra Bishoo, 10 Alzarri Joseph, 11 Miguel Cummins/Shannon GabrielPakistan may decide to stick with the side that levelled the series, especially since there were no glaringly poor performances. Junaid Khan, who came in for Wahab, bowled better than his figures suggested, and is expected to keep his place.Pakistan (possible): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Kamran Akmal, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Junaid Khan

Pitch and conditions

All bets are off with the Providence Stadium’s new pitch, which yielded two starkly different contests in just three days. However, there are showers expected for parts of the afternoon, and a curtailed contest is possible.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan’s record in bilateral series deciders since 2003 has been quite poor. In 14 series-deciding final matches, they have lost 12 and won just 2 – both against Zimbabwe.
• Babar Azam has the most runs (1306) after 25 ODIs by any batsman. The previous highest was by Jonathan Trott, who scored 1280 runs in the same period.