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Bounces back from debilitating illness, to lead the line in post-Sciver-Brunt/Shrubsole era

Valkerie Baynes20-Jun-2023In the throes of a nasty illness and up against a pressing deadline, it was a phone call from head coach Jon Lewis that gave Kate Cross the reassurance she needed before reclaiming her place in the England Women’s Test squad for their opening Ashes match at Trent Bridge.Cross is poised to spearhead an inexperienced England seam attack against Australia from Thursday, having recovered from a particularly stubborn strain of Giardia, a parasitic infection of the intestines that she picked up in March and which, in her case, took nine rounds of antibiotics and finally another, more powerful, medication to cure.”I’m feeling a lot better now,” Cross told ESPNcricinfo at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. “It’s been a really strange one. It’s been something I’ve had to really work hard mentally at as well. It’s not been a standard injury where you’ve got your regular stepping stones to getting back on the cricket pitch. It’s been very up and down, which is something that mentally I’ve struggled quite a lot with. Then you add an Ashes timeline on to the end of it and a deadline there, so it was quite stressful.”I’m a bowler that likes to have a lot of overs under the belt, especially going into Test cricket. So it’s been something I’ve had to adapt to. But Jon Lewis actually rang me midway through all of this and just said, ‘you’re not going to have forgotten how to bowl, Kate. Just make sure you get better before you start thinking about cricket.’ So I just feel really fortunate.”Cross credits a few other phone conversations with helping her towards being given the all-clear in early June too.”I’ve had the world’s best looking after me as well,” she said. “I’ve got an incredible medical team and a sports science med team behind me and the time and effort that they were putting in, I’m so grateful for. Texting your doctor at 3.30 in the morning and getting replies back straight away just goes to show how much they’ve really cared for me, so I’m very lucky in that regard.”Another complicating factor in her recovery has been the fact that she was losing so much weight during bouts of illness between courses of antibiotics, that she became an injury risk. As a result, she had to train one day on and two days off. So while she has had to adapt to not having “my most ideal preparation”, she was satisfied with the work done in training and during a drawn three-day, red-ball warm-up match on a slow, lifeless pitch in Derby where England bowled Australia A out for 221 in their first innings before amassing 650 themselves.Sophie Ecclestone and Cross leave the field after the epic draw in Canberra last year•Getty Images

Now, following the retirements of Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Anya Shrubsole over the past 18 months, Cross could well bowl the first ball of the series, as she did against South Africa last summer.
“That’s actually scared me a bit to be honest because there was times when I didn’t know if I’d be well enough to be thinking about playing Ashes cricket,” Cross said. “We always prioritised my health before we prioritised thinking about that first ball but I remember in the Test last year at Taunton, it was the first time I got to bowl the first ball for England. Obviously with Katherine and Anya at the helm for a long time it was difficult to get the new ball.”I actually misheard the umpire and didn’t hear her say, ‘play’, so I actually delayed my opportunity to open the bowling so it was a bit embarrassing. But when you’re a kid in the back garden playing Ashes cricket with your brother and sister, you always think about those moments and being able to do them on the big stage. I think it would be a really proud moment if I got to take the new ball.”Some 14,500 tickets have been sold for the five-day Test, which kicks off the multi-format series ahead of three T20Is and three ODIs, being played and marketed in tandem with the Men’s Ashes.Just like their male counterparts, England Women are implementing a more free, entertainment-focused style of play under Lewis, who arrived from the men’s set-up late last year. Cross said there had been little talk within the home camp of balancing that approach with the fact the game is over five days, which was more likely to produce a result in the event of any adverse weather.Related

• Anya Shrubsole confirms retirement after star turn in Vipers' title win

• Ladies who Switch: England unveil Women's Ashes Test squad

• Annabel Sutherland century helps Australia to draw with England A

• Phoebe Litchfield still pinching herself at Ashes prospects

• Capsey, Davidson-Richards cut from England Test squad

“It’s not that we’re going out there trying to hit sixes every ball, it’s just having the opportunity to put pressure on the opposition and that’s what we’ve spoken about a lot more, how we do that individually, how we do it as a team,” she said.Nottingham was beset by heavy rain which affected many parts of the country on Tuesday, although the forecast is much brighter for the rest of the week. However, Cross was right in the thick of the previous Women’s Ashes Test in Australia which was played over four days and ended in the most thrilling of draws. With England needing 13 runs off the last two overs of the match, she and Sophie Ecclestone stood firm as Australia failed to prise out the final wicket they needed to win.”That Test match that we had in Canberra was probably the starting point for us as a group about how we want to approach cricket,” Cross said. “We went to try and win that game, to chase 250 on the last day and we’ve never done that in one-day cricket, so to try and do it in Test cricket goes to show how brave the group is and how the batters wanted to approach that game.”We talk a lot about moving the game forward, especially in Test cricket. It’s a challenge for us because we don’t’ play a lot of it and we do a lot of learning when we’re out there and it’s a bit of a big stage to be doing that. We feel like we expose ourselves in a way because you have to be vulnerable in those moments to learn about the game, but we love doing it. We love the challenge of it, it’s new challenges on our bodies and going five days will be a big challenge but not one that we want to shy away from.”

Matthew Wade and Kane Richardson could also tour Sri Lanka despite not getting deals

Alex Malcolm08-Apr-2022Chairman of selectors George Bailey insisted fast bowler Jhye Richardson remains a key part of Australia’s plans across all three formats and could even tour Sri Lanka in June despite being dropped off the central contract list.Richardson was the most notable omission from the 20-man list having returned to Test cricket last summer for the first time since early 2019. He took 5 for 42 in his last Test bowling innings in Adelaide against England to help Australia to victory on the final day.But he was rested from the following Test in Melbourne due to shin soreness and did not get back for the rest of the series due to Scott Boland’s remarkable emergence.Richardson played the last two of Australia’s five T20Is against Sri Lanka in February but was not considered for the Pakistan tour in order to remain at home and play with Western Australia. He then injured his hamstring in the Marsh Cup final and missed the Sheffield Shield decider.Bailey said Richardson was unfortunate but the selectors still see him as a key part of Australia’s plans over the next 12 months.”There’s always someone who just misses,” Bailey said. “Absolutely, you could say he was unfortunate to miss. “We like his skill set across all three formats. And [we’re] just looking forward to his availability increasing and continuing to build his resilience and an ability to play a lot more cricket over the next 12 months.”Bailey added Matthew Wade and Kane Richardson fell into a similar category, especially with a T20 World Cup later this year.”They’re all guys that we fully expect will play for Australia in the near future,” Bailey said. “In all likelihood, they’ll all be picked probably in our next touring party. Wadey is still our first-choice wicketkeeper in our T20 team and [there’s] a big build-up coming up to that World Cup. And a little bit the same with Kane with that T20 World Cup coming up as well.”Josh Inglis kept in Australia’s one-off T20I against Pakistan in Lahore with Wade not selected to tour Pakistan given there was only one T20I and he is not part of Australia’s ODI plans moving forward.Josh Inglis has started his T20I career impressively•Getty Images

Inglis was given a contract ahead of Wade as he is now the reserve wicketkeeper in all three formats, backing up Alex Carey in the Test and ODI side. Bailey said the decision to contract Inglis was as much about the future as it was about the here and now.”Josh has obviously done really well in the opportunities that he’s had,” Bailey said. “He’s clearly our keeper-in-waiting I guess behind Alex in the Test and one-day formats. And he’s the keeper-in-waiting behind Wadey in the T20 format. He’s going to be a huge part of every tour that we go on. We’re investing as much in the future with him as we are looking at what’s happened in the past 12 months.”Bailey was hopeful Australia will be able to send a near full-strength side in all formats on their next tour of Sri Lanka in June and July after David Warner, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh all missed the white-ball portion of the recent tour of Pakistan for a variety of reasons. Warner, Cummins, and Hazlewood were given time off ahead of the IPL having also missed some or all of the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Marsh picked up an injury ahead of the ODIs in Pakistan which ruled him out of the series while Smith left the tour early to manage an elbow problem.Australia are set to play three T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests in Sri Lanka with the first T20I starting June 7. The qualifying portion of the IPL finishes on May 22 and the final is to be held on May 29, but Bailey does not anticipate there will be a need to rest players from large chunks of the tour.”Not necessarily,” Bailey said. “It’ll just be a case-by-case basis. The one thing we don’t know is how much each player is going to play over there, how far each franchise is going to get into the tournament. If players don’t get that far in the tournament, there’s every opportunity for them to maybe get a little bit of a freshen up physically and a small break at home.”Fingers crossed, the Sri Lanka tour will be the start of getting back to a little bit of flexibility in terms of getting guys in individually as opposed to having to fly in on charters and do quarantines and things like that.”I don’t know if that’s the case but certainly hoping that’s where we’re heading. So we’ll just work through that. But certainly, the guys that play all formats, as we’ve seen, it’s a big tour so the guys that are in the mix to play the three T20s, the five ODIs, and the two Tests…and the Tests will be the priority for that series.”

The Nottinghamshire batsmen would be cover for Jason Roy who will be on England duty

George Dobell02-Nov-2020Joe Clarke, the Nottinghamshire batsman, is set to sign for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League.Clarke, 23, was the fifth highest run-scorer in this year’s Vitality T20 Blast. His strike-rate – 175.00 runs per 100 balls – was better than anyone else in the top 50 run-scorers in the competition.While he is yet to represent England at senior level and has never previously appeared in a T20 franchise competition, he has long been thought of as one of the most exciting talents in the English game.He made five Championship centuries in his first full season – a season which started while he was still a teenager – and might well have already graduated to the international cricket had his career not been temporarily derailed after he was considered unavailable for selection due to disciplinary issues.He is understood to have been considered for a place in England limited-overs squad for the tour to South Africa but, with the likes of Dawid Malan, the No.1-ranked T20I batsman at present, and Joe Root, England’s Test captain, fighting for their places in one format or another, Clarke has been obliged to bide his time.Clarke is understood to be a temporary replacement for Jason Roy at Perth Scorchers although teams can field three overseas players in their XI for the next two seasons. Roy has England responsibilities during the tournament.

Glamorgan remain winless as Hampshire’s spin twins throttle middle overs for second night in a row

ECB Reporters Network02-Aug-2019Mason Crane and Liam Dawson spun Glamorgan’s middle-order into a stupor as Hampshire made it three Vitality Blast wins in a row.Spin twins Crane and Dawson replicated their middle-over removal service for the second night in a row, having stunned Essex at Chelmsford, to claim figures of 3 for 20 and 3 for 11 respectively.The pair were backed by South African overseas Chris Morris’ 2 for 21 as Hampshire won by 41 runs – leaving Glamorgan winless at the bottom of the South Group.Hampshire set Glamorgan 129 to win after James Vince had won the toss and decided to bat on a sun-kissed evening on the south coast.
A lack of fluency had marred the host’s innings due to a combination of a slow wicket and long boundaries – but the visitors failed to learn from the hosts.Fakhar Zaman couldn’t build on his 58 against Gloucestershire as Chris Wood, whose first two overs went for just two, had his caught at first slip to the third ball of the innings.Colin Ingram was duped by the slow nature of the pitch as he threw his hands at Kyle Abbott, but only struck straight at short cover.Like against Essex the previous night, Hampshire’s twirlers teamed up to throttle their opposition and tear their batting apart after the powerplay.Left-armer Dawson bowled Billy Root, who was attempting to scoop, and Chris Cooke in consecutive overs.At the other end, legspinner Mason Crane tempted David Lloyd into a slog sweep, which was caught on the deep midwicket boundary, before Dan Douthwaite was stumped – leaving Glamorgan 63 for six.Jeremy Lawlor and Merchant de Lange both picked out long-on off Chris Morris and Crane as the rate started to catch up with Glamorgan.
Graham Wagg was yorked and Dawson bowled Lukas Carey – as Hampshire remained in the quarter-final hunt.Earlier, Glamorgan used their inside knowledge of Aneurin Donald’s game, having developed it until he joined Hampshire last winter, to have the Welshman smartly caught on the square leg boundary.It took 22 balls until the first boundary, one of only eight in the innings, when Rilee Rossouw clubbed over midwicket.Next ball he was bowled by de Lange to give the bowler his 100th T20 wicket in his 88th appearance, before Sam Northeast was stumped.Vince followed his explosive 87 against Essex on Thursday with a 21-ball 25 but his frustrations showed with a top-edged hoick to long-on.Morris, James Fuller and Dawson all found various boundary riders but a crucial late cameo from Lewis McManus, which included the sole maximum of the innings took Hampshire to what appeared a below-par 128 for 7. Ultimately, it proved to be more than enough.

Only 42.3 overs were possible due to intermittent showers, enough time for the opener to score a fifty and the fast bowler to show some menace

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando15-Jun-2018Stumps Devon Smith drives•AFP

Lahiru Kumara delivered 13.3 hostile overs, and Kasun Rajitha was probing on Test debut, but a half-century from Devon Smith drove West Indies foreward on a rain-hit second day. They stand only 135 runs behind Sri Lanka, with eight wickets still in hand. Only 42.3 overs were delivered in the day, the rain arriving during lunch to wash out much of the afternoon and evening sessions, before stumps were eventually drawn due to bad light at 5:55 pm.Snith was measured for much of the day, hitting only four fours (two of which were edges past the slip cordon) and a six in his 53 not out off 134 balls. He had his outside edge beaten on plenty of occasions, even through the last few overs of the day, but he did enough to survive, and did not miss out when genuinely poor balls were on offer. The half-century is his seventh overall, and his first since April 2015. Smith was especially strong on the legside in this innings, once advancing to launch Akila Dananjaya over long on for six.Kumara, perhaps, will consider himself unlucky for having only collected figures of 1 for 48. He troubled each of the four West Indies batsmen who came to the crease on day two, often surprising them with the bounce and pace he generated. He touched 145kph on occasion, generally aiming at the batsmen’s ribs. His breakthrough came very late in the day – Kusal Mendis diving to his right from second slip to complete an excellent low take off Kieran Powell, who had attempted to drive that ball. In the first session, Kumara could easily have had Kraigg Brathwaite lbw, with a ball that jagged in from well outside off stump. The ball had hit Brathwaite above the knee-roll though, and umpire Aleem Dar felt it was probably going over the stumps.Rajitha was not quite so aggressive, but there was obviousl skill to the manner in which he operated. He moved the ball both ways off the pitch, and frequently went looking for that edge, his length often full and his line always testing. He had made the first breakthrough, shortly before lunch. Angling a ball in at Brathwaite, Rajitha got it to straighten just a fraction. The result was a feather edge to the wicketkeeper – that touch so light that Brathwaite even reviewed believing he had not hit the ball. DRS disagreed, however. Brathwaite was out for 22 off 79 balls, having gritted his way through almost the entire first session.So disciplined had Sri Lanka’s quicks been in the first session that West Indies made only 63 runs in 25 overs. The scoring rate increased after the first extended rain break, but went south again in the final 6.2-over stretch of play.Encouragingly for Sri Lanka, there was decent turn for their offspinner Dananjaya on day two. Nevertheless, West Indies are still completely in control of this game, particularly with their strong middle order still alive in the first innings.

Faf du Plessis confirmed Morne Morkel will return to South Africa’s Test XI after more than a year, banking on his experience to get him through despite lack of match fitness

Firdose Moonda in Dunedin07-Mar-20172:54

Moonda: Playing Morkel a gamble

After more than a year out of Test cricket, it’s now or never for Morne Morkel, who will make his international comeback in Dunedin on Wednesday. South Africa have decided to gamble on their lanky quick, despite his lack of game time, and are banking on his experience to pull him through.”He looks good. If he is not going to be able play now, then we will never know if we don’t take the chance. He is a fantastic bowler,” Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s Test captain, said. “I have said to him over the last six months that every time he has bowled in the nets, it felt to me like he was bowling at his best. His consistency is really good. It’s just an opportunity we have to take as a team and see where Morne is with his back. All the reports say he is 100% fine. He’s bowled a lot of overs and he is pretty confident. He will just have to step out and see what he can do.”Morkel has only played two matches this year, both List A games for his South African franchise, Titans which takes his total to six matches since the CPL last July, where he sustained the back niggle that has sidelined him for seven months. Since then, he hasn’t quite gained full fitness. He traveled with the South African Test team to Australia and participated in all three practice matches but the injury scares recurred too frequently and he could not play any of the Tests. Then, he was ruled out of the home series against Sri Lanka and a planned recall in the ODIs was pushed back after Morkel could not play a provincial game because his symptoms flared up again.In the lead-up to this series, Morkel revealed the bulging disc in his spine was considered serious enough to end his career but he wanted to give playing at the highest level another go and underwent intensive rehabilitation. Even when it seemed other players had gone past him in the pecking order, Morkel kept training and his determination has now seen him edge out three other pacers – Duanne Olivier, Wayne Parnell and Chris Morris – in the starting XI.Of those, Olivier may feel the most hard done by. He made an impressive debut at the Wanderers and topped the first-class bowling charts. There’s not much more he could have done to make a case for inclusion in the Test team and du Plessis is certain his turn will come, maybe even on this tour. “Duanne is going to play a huge role for us going forward. It’s nice to have the opportunity to have him with us this whole series and I think even in conditions where the ball might swing and a bit of pace, Duanne can be a factor to still challenge for a spot in our strongest XI,” he said.Morne Morkel last played a Test in January 2016•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

But for the first match, South Africa want to go with what they consider to be their most lethal combination, and they have decided that Morkel is part of that. Not only does he have 71 Tests and 242 wickets to his name, but he gets good bounce and, as Dean Elgar reminded on Monday, he has a knack of troubling left-handers, of which New Zealand have three in the top five. “That’s one of the reasons he got the nod ahead of Duanne. You’ve got to make sure you pick your strongest team for the guys you are playing against,” du Plessis said.Morkel surprises left-handers with the angle that he delivers the ball, which “is almost pointing to first slip,” according to du Plessis. “It goes either into right-handers or away from left-handers and obviously bounce is a huge factor. He is terrible to face in the nets as a right-hander because you always feel like you can get hit in the ribs and obviously it’s the opposite to lefties, it goes away. The angle he can create from around the wicket to get the ball to come in and move away is extremely hard to face,” du Plessis said.If South Africa win the toss, New Zealand will get to experience that first-up. Du Plessis confirmed that he will follow the trend of bowling first, as has been the case in the last 22 Tests played in New Zealand. “That tells a pretty good story and you will have to be pretty brave to go against that,” he said. “I assume the conditions up above also plays a role in how it looks.”Cloud has dominated the build-up to the Test but temperatures have plummeted which, as Neil Wagner hinted, suggests swing may not be a factor. However, humidity is set to increase through the Test and it should get slightly warmer so du Plessis will still hope for some movement. But he laughed off a suggestion of perusing the nearest sweet shop – although there is an entire Cadbury’s factory about a kilometre away from the ground – for assistance in shining the ball the same way he did in Australia.”I don’t know these conditions so I have to see what the guys think is the best way to shine the ball is but I think saliva is the process that I am following for the next while at least,” he joked. “Swinging the ball would be a huge factor in these conditions, so you have to keep the ball as shiny as possible. I don’t think reverse swing will play too much of a role in these conditions with the ball getting too wet, so it’s just about making the ball swing.”

West Indies Under-19s ended up stunning over 10,000 fans at the Shere Bangla Stadium by chasing down 227, with three wickets in hand, in an anxious fashion against Bangladesh Under-19s

The Report by Vishal Dikshit in Mirpur11-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShamar Springer had plenty to dance about after an incisive spell with the ball and a match-winning unbeaten 62•Getty Images

West Indies Under-19s ended up stunning over 10,000 fans at the Shere Bangla Stadium by chasing down 227, with three wickets in hand, in an anxious fashion against Bangladesh Under-19s in the semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup. West Indies were cruising at 147 for 3 and seemed to be buckle under pressure after captain Shimron Hetmyer fell for 60. They lost two more wickets for 34 runs but were salvaged by Shamar Springer’s unbeaten 62 after his incisive spell of 10-0-36-2. West Indies will make their second appearance in an Under-19 World Cup final when they take on India Under-19s in Mirpur on Sunday.The West Indies chase started in the usual aggressive mode when Gidron Pope clobbered 14 runs in the first over. He continued to attack and was dropped on 23 in the fourth over before he took his team to an intimidating 56 for 2 in seven overs. After Pope fell for 38, Hetmyer led the charge just like his counterpart Mehedi Hasan Miraz had done earlier in the day, with a measured knock in the company of Keacy Carty. The required run rate was just under four when they got together and they carried out their partnership of 62 in composed fashion.They had no difficulty playing the spinners and Hetmyer brought up his second straight fifty but his dismissal in the 28th over threatened to tilt the game the other way. Springer was joined by Jyd Goolie and with no scoreboard pressure to face, they took the score past 175 until left-arm spinner Saleh Ahmed Shawon struck twice in four balls and West Indies were still 46 adrift with four wickets in hand.Springer was still there, and he and Michael Frew ran well to steal ones and twos in a patient stand of 36 in 8.2 overs. Bangladesh struck again when Mohammad Saifuddin removed Frew for 12 but Springer’s presence saw them through as he hit the winning runs with eight balls to spare.Bangladesh showed signs of nervousness too. They dropped Springer when he was on 15, fumbled when they shouldn’t have and conceded overthrows when the match was in the balance, possibly feeling the pressure of playing in front of a massive crowd that had gathered in Mirpur.Earlier, Mehedi had to rescue his team again from a precarious position, just like he had done in the quarter-final against Nepal Under-19s. He forged an 85-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Mohammed Saifuddin, lifting the side from 113 for 5 to close to 200.West Indies’ opening bowlers, Alzarri Joseph and Chemar Holder, started poorly after the hosts opted to bat. They conceded nine extras out of the total of 10 in the first two overs but later succeeded in removing the openers by the seventh over. They continued their barrage of short deliveries with varying lines, while Bangladesh found the odd boundary.Just when Bangladesh were looking to lift the run rate after the first Powerplay, they lost Nazmul Hossain Shanto, their best batsman in the tournament so far, for 11 and medium-pacers Ryan John and Springer then choked the flow of runs. Joyraz Sheik, who was dropped off a tough chance on 6, led them on even as Zakir Hasan struggled to rotate the strike. Sheik, however, dragged one onto his off stump and Zakir was bowled once Holder was brought back for his second spell.Mehedi eased the flow of runs and pulled his team out of trouble once the spinners Jyd Goolie, Pope and Frew came on, relying on plenty of back-foot strokes. Once the hosts looked comfortable, the spinners sent down more loose deliveries and the fielders started to misfield, too.Saifuddin played a more patient role in the partnership with Mehedi and was content giving strike to the captain, who brought up his fifty off 63 balls. Their comfort ended in the 45th over. Pacer Keemo Paul, who had injured himself while fielding earlier, came on in the 46th over and struck off consecutive deliveries to remove both set batsmen and hurt Bangladesh’s chances of a total close to 240. Springer was economical in the slog overs, too, and a couple of fours and a six from the tail pushed Bangladesh past 220. They were dismissed for 226 off the last ball of the innings.

Afghanistan will look to strengthen their chances of qualifying for the 2015 World Cup on their tour of Namibia, which begins on August 4

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2013Afghanistan will look to strengthen their chances of qualifying for the 2015 World Cup on their tour of Namibia, which begins on August 4.The team, which departed for Namibia today, is scheduled to play one Intercontinental Cup match and two World Cricket League Championship matches on August 9 and 11. Victory in both matches will take Afghanistan to 15 points, alongside Netherlands and Scotland, bettering their chances of a place in the World Cup. For Namibia, who are currently seventh in the league, the matches are a chance to better their ranking before their last league round matches against UAE.The last time these teams met was in March 2012, when Afghanistan beat Namibia by 28 runs in the World Twenty20 qualifiers to secure a place in the World T20 in Sri Lanka. Afghanistan’s next series will be the Asian Cricket Council’s Emerging Teams Cup in Singapore, where they will play their first match against Nepal on August 17.The CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), Dr Noor Mohammad Murad, said: “We wish our national team well for their Namibia tour. We are looking forward to a top-class performance by the players, and are confident in their ability, which has shown in their performances so far in this journey to qualify for the 2015 World Cup. They have also had the benefit of a 14-day training camp in the lead up to this tour. We know they will do everything they can to make our country proud.”Fixtures:
August 4-7: Intercontinental Cup match v Namibia
August 9: WCL Championship match v Namibia
August 11: WCL Championship match v Namibia

Steve Harmison’s initial appearance as an honorary Yorkshireman is not one he will particularly relish

Ivo Tennant at West End14-Jul-2012
ScorecardSteve Harmison wants to finish his career wearing the Durham kit•Getty Images

Steve Harmison’s initial appearance as an honorary Yorkshireman is not one he will particularly relish. Endless coach journeys, endless rain and, when he did finally have a bowl well into the third day of this weather-ruined fixture, inactivity and a lack of match practice were responsible for an opening over of wild misdirection. His first ball was a wide, as was his third and then his fourth. Another followed in his next over.His five overs went for 25 runs and further rain on the final day ensured he would not bowl again. Harmison, with just six first-class wickets to his name this season, has begun a month’s loan to Yorkshire unless he is recalled in the event of injuries or Test calls. He has been recommended by Durham’s members for a benefit next year and, even if at 33 he is clearly not the fast bowler he was, still intends to play on for two or three more years. Preferably for Durham.”I still want to play for Durham. I still have the burning desire to play cricket for my home county.” In reference to joining Yorkshire on loan, he said: “I feel like I’m a proud man and an honest person so if I’m representing a side that has given me the chance to play, I’ll do everything I possibly can. The most important thing is for Yorkshire to get back into the first division. If I can play any small part in that, I’ll be delighted.”I’ve not played cricket for two years properly and it’s frightening how much I have missed it. I’ve probably got two to three years left in the game, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. The only thing I’ve ever been able to do is play cricket. It’s one thing being frustrated not playing when you’re injured like I have been over the last few years, but when I’m not playing cricket because of the weather or through not being picked, it’s doubly frustrating.”The Yorkshire coaching hierarchy of Martyn Moxon and Jason Gillespie, an old foe of Harmison’s during Ashes encounters, were not particularly influential in him joining Yorkshire. He had had enough of second XI cricket and inactivity during the t20 period and felt he had to play in the first-class game, not least because of better facilities.”I would have gone anywhere. It was a case of who needed a bowler – and that county was Yorkshire owing to Ryan Sidebottom being injured. I have nothing against second team cricket but I have enjoyed every minute since I began practising with them at the start of the week.”Harmison’s next appearance for Yorkshire will be against Derbyshire at Chesterfield next week. Pitches of old on that attractive ground had the trampoline bounce he desired, whereas too often this summer, one in which he has played just three Championship matches, they have been dampened and dulled by the rain. No-one wants to see his career peter out or for him to play on too long through not knowing what to do next, but there is clearly a possibility of both occurring. He has not been so in need of a few wickets since, well, he was about to open England’s bowling at Gillespie and company in 2005.

Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in the Emerging Players tournament to be held in Australia from August 1 to 13

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2011Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in the Emerging Players tournament to be held in Australia from August 1 to 13. Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who has an impressive first-class average of 67.72, will be the vice-captain of the 15-member contingent.The squad includes a number of players on the fringes of the India team, who have impressed through the domestic season and in the IPL. Manoj Tiwary, who failed to shine when given an opportunity in the West Indies one-dayers, has been included in the side. Saurabh Tiwary was picked despite a lacklustre IPL.This year, the Emerging Players tournament will feature three-day matches as opposed to limited-over matches as in previous years. India’s campaign at the tournament starts with a match against South Africa from August 1. They will then play New Zealand from August 6, and Australian Institute of Sports (AIS) from August 11.Ashok Menaria, who led India in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand before fruitful Ranji and IPL seasons with Rajasthan, was also picked. S Anirudha, Manish Pandey, and Ambati Rayudu were the other IPL regulars who made the squad. Karnataka’s C Gautam got the wicketkeeper’s spot.Legspinner Rahul Sharma and left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla, who made waves with their incisiveness in the IPL, make up the spin attack. Karnataka seamer Vinay Kumar, who toured West Indies with the senior one-day team, will lead the fast-bowling department. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, both of whom have built reputations based on their ability to generate pace, and left-arm seamer S Aravind complete the pace attack.India had won the tournament in 2009 after Virat Kohli led the team to a 17-run win over South Africa with a rollicking century. They reached the finals of both the 20-over and 50-over legs of the tournament in 2010, but lost to AIS in the 20-over final and lost out to South Africa for the 50-over title. The final of the 50-over leg was abandoned due to rain and South Africa were declared winners because they finished higher in the points table.Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), S Anirudha, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Tiwary, Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Menaria, C Gautam (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Rahul Sharma, Iqbal Abdulla, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, S Aravind, Vinay Kumar