Toby Albert, Mason Crane lend support in visitors’ 91-run victory

ECB Reporters Network11-Aug-2023Skipper Nick Gubbins led from the front with an impressive 119 from 123 balls as Hampshire ran out 91-run winners over Nottinghamshire in the first of three Metro Bank One-Day Cup ties at the tree-lined Welbeck Cricket Club ground in the north of the county.The left-hander hit 13 fours and two sixes, with most of his boundaries scored square of the wicket on a pitch that lacked pace. He had support from Toby Albert (44) and latterly Mason Crane (31) in Hampshire’s 254 all out. Seamer Dane Paterson led the Outlaws bowling attack with 4 for 41 with left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White weighing in with 3 for 43 to go with a superb run-out.In the face of consistent bowling in which Ian Holland’s 2 for 19 off nine overs at the top of the innings was key, the Outlaws could muster only 163 in reply, bowled out in 42.2 overs with Matt Montgomery’s 42 their highest score, Crane picking up 3 for 38 with his wrist spin, and 17-year-old Eddie Jack finishing with 2 28 in only his second senior match.Winners of seven of their eight group matches last season but unable to get past eventual winners Kent in the semi-finals, Hampshire are supplying 10 players to franchises in The Hundred this season – albeit re-united with two of them in this match – yet have launched their 50-over campaign with three straight wins.After winning the toss, the Outlaws established an early advantage by taking the first three Hampshire wickets inside the opening powerplay. Paterson brought one back to bowl Fletcha Middleton before Tom Prest chased one outside off-stump that swung away further to be caught at second slip. Ben Brown was run out by Patterson-White’s direct hit after Gubbins chanced a single backward of square off Tom Loten.Aneurin Donald, characteristically aggressive, profited from a couple of short balls from Loten but was bowled driving loosely at a fuller ball to leave Hampshire 62 for 4, yet with Gubbins accumulating sensibly and 21-year-old Albert offering evidence of his potential the visitors had recovered to 122 for 4 at halfway, the skipper reaching 50 from 68 balls.The introduction of Patterson-White at the Charlie French End dragged the initiative back for the Outlaws, the left-armer claiming three wickets in the space of 14 balls. He bowled Albert as the right-hander gave himself room before trapping Holland and Scott Currie leg before, both playing across the line.At 161 for 7, Hampshire had work to do but Gubbins found a useful partner in Crane – released by Hundred side London Spirit to play here – as Nottinghamshire lost some of their grip and 78 were added in 74 balls, Crane disdainfully launching Montgomery’s off spin for two sixes before Gubbins, having hit 13 fours in a 113-ball hundred, let loose to dispatch Loten twice over the leg-side boundary.Loten gained revenge with a slower ball that saw Gubbins caught at long-on. Crane holed out to deep cover in the next over off Paterson, who ended the innings with one ball left of the 50th over by bowling Brad Wheal.Like Hampshire, the Outlaws struggled while the ball was still hard, losing three for 29 in the opening powerplay, Wheal striking with his fifth delivery as Ben Slater edged to second slip before.Holland found the edge as Lyndon James defended and ended the home side’s experimental promotion of Loten to number four by bowling the all-rounder for four, Gubbins sticking with the USA international’s accurate medium pace for nine overs straight, which stifled any attempts by the home side to build momentum.Nottinghamshire had needed to score at five an over yet at the halfway stage of their innings were below three with two more wickets lost after skipper Haseeb Hameed was leg before on the sweep to wrist spinner Crane and opener Ben Martindale’s rather torturous 28 from 72 balls ended with a mistimed chip to extra cover.Montgomery attacked with some success, particularly against Crane, who he pulled for six and hit for three fours, but a change of bowling saw Jack, a tall right-arm quick making his second List A appearance, dismiss Patterson-White, moments before new man Dane Schadendorf holed out to long on off Prest’s off-spin to leave the Outlaws 110 for seven in the 32nd.Jack picked up his second, producing a fine delivery to ensure Montgomery could offer no more threat, Crane getting his second courtesy of a remarkable boundary catch by substitute fielder Dom Kelly, who tossed the ball up twice as he struggled to stop himself toppling over the rope, before Hutton holed out to long off.

Tayyab will accompany the team as a travelling reserve in the 17-man squad

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Aug-2023Saud Shakeel has been added to Pakistan’s squad for the 2023 Asia Cup. Tayyab Tahir, who had initially been named in the 17-member squad, misses out but will be part of the traveling reserves.Shakeel has only played five ODIs so far but made an impressive start to his Test career. He has amassed six fifties and two hundreds in seven Tests including a match-winning 208* against Sri Lanka in Galle after Pakistan’s top order was dismantled by the home spinners. He has 2489 runs in List A matches at an average of 44.44.Shakeel was part of the final ODI against Afghanistan, where he made 9 of 6 before being run-out. He will travel along with the team to Multan on Sunday.The Asia Cup-bound players who played against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka are set to arrive in Multan on Sunday. A PCB release said that Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq and Naseem Shah will travel to Lahore on Sunday and join the side on Monday evening.Pakistan are scheduled to play Nepal in the Asia Cup opener in Multan on August 30.Pakistan Asia Cup squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim.

Runs galore in Hyderabad as New Zealand and Pakistan prepare for the World Cup proper

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2023
Mohammad Rizwan’s century and half-centuries from Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel went in vain as Pakistan couldn’t defend 345 in their warm-up match against New Zealand in Hyderabad. Rachin Ravindra seized his chance as an opener, scoring 97 off 72 balls to lead New Zealand’s successful chase.New Zealand will also be pleased with the progress of Kane Williamson, who marked his return from a six-month injury layoff with a 49-ball fifty. Daryl Mitchell and Mark Chapman also hit half-centuries to warm up for the World Cup proper.Related

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After opting to bat first, Pakistan lost two early wickets, but Babar and Rizwan steadied the innings and set the scene for the late assault from Shakeel. Babar and Rizwan added 114 for the third wicket before Mitchell Santner snagged Babar for 80 off 84 balls. Rizwan was more fluent against spin and often manufactured room to drive them inside-out over extra-cover. He pressed onto a century and then retired out on 103 off 94 balls. Shakeel and Agha Salman teed off in the end overs to take Pakistan closer to 350. But it wasn’t enough in the end.Ravindra, who often bats in the top order for his domestic side Wellington Firebirds, made a strong impression in the same role for the national team too. He was responsible for 32 of the 65 runs New Zealand had scored in the mandatory powerplay. He combined with Williamson and picked away spinners Salman and Usama Mir with ease. Williamson retired out on 54 and Ravindra fell three short of a century, but Mitchell and Chapman ensured that New Zealand coasted to victory, with more than six overs to spare. Barring Mir, every Pakistan bowler conceded at over seven runs an over.

More Kookaburra ball trials and extension of hybrid pitches among changes for county season

Andrew Miller23-Nov-2023The ECB has defended the concept of “Super September” after unveiling the men’s and women’s domestic fixtures calendar for 2024, with five domestic competitions set to be decided in the final month of the season, alongside a possible 15 days of men’s international cricket.Neil Snowball, managing director of Competitions and Major Events, conceded that the ECB had “had our hand forced” in avoiding high-profile scheduling clashes in 2024, given the ICC’s staging of the Men’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA between June 4-30, and the knock-on effect on England’s major-match schedule for their home season – with a pair of three-Test series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, plus eight white-ball fixtures against Australia, all taking place in the final 11 weeks of the season, from July 11 to September 29.On the domestic front, however, Snowball believes that the prospect of the Vitality Blast and Metrobank One-Day Cup finals taking place on consecutive weekends in mid-September, alongside the Charlotte Edwards Cup final, the revamped Disability Premier League final, and the likely climax of the County Championship title race, offers a “natural culmination of the season”.”With three men’s county domestic competitions, one of the women’s and the DPL, in terms of a mix of conclusions of titles, I think that’s quite exciting,” Snowball said. “At the same time, we’ll have the back end of the Sri Lanka Test series and the Australia men’s white-ball series. There’s a lot to love about that. Yes, it’s a lot of cricket. But I think that is a lot to look forward to.”

Championship returns to August, Blast to late week

Other significant changes to the fixture list include a return of Championship cricket to the prime month of August, with the new season of the Hundred (the fixtures for which have yet to be announced) moved back a week into July. Meanwhile, the vast majority of next year’s Vitality Blast fixtures – 122 of 126 group-stages matches – will be played on Thursday nights, Friday nights and at weekends, including 22 double headers alongside the Charlotte Edwards Cup.To mitigate against the prospect of autumnal weather at the season’s climax, the ECB has allocated a reserve day for each of the knock-out matches across the men’s and women’s competitions – and if there’s still no prospect of a result in the final, then the title will be shared, instead of being decided on a bowl-out, as would have been the case in recent seasons.Not everyone on the county circuit will be convinced by the schedule’s merits, however. Speaking after Surrey’s successful defence of their Championship title this season, director of cricket Alec Stewart derided Super September as “anything but”, and urged the ECB to be “more respectful to the county game”.Snowball acknowledged Stewart’s criticism. “Surrey may end up in the quarter-finals and finals of the Blast, and in the final of the One-Day Cup and be pushing for the title, that’s going to be a very busy September,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it unlucky, but the consequence of being really good is you could be in all three, then that is a hell of a schedule. I agree. But I would have thought adrenaline would take them through that.”

Kookaburra trial extended to four matches

After two rounds of University fixtures in March, the County Championship will launch the season proper on April 5, with Surrey opening their title defence against Lancashire at Old Trafford, while Durham mark their return to the top flight for the first time in eight years by hosting Hampshire at Chester-le-Street. Worcestershire, the other promoted team, will face Midlands rivals Warwickshire at Edgbaston.That opening round of games could yet be contested using the Kookaburra ball, with the ECB confirming that the two-match trial period utilised during the 2023 season would be extended to four matches in 2024, in two blocks of two towards the beginning and end of the season, but avoiding the season’s climax as well as the middle rounds of games in late April and May when each county is guaranteed a week off.The use of the Kookaburra – the favoured ball for most overseas Test cricket – was recommended by Andrew Strauss’s High Performance Review for 2023, in the wake of England’s disastrous Ashes campaign. Though it was dismissed by Surrey’s head coach Gareth Batty as a “knee-jerk reaction”, it led to a 10% increase in the amount of overs bowled by spinners, according to Mo Bobat, the ECB’s outgoing performance director.”Most coaches would say that it helped to develop skills for bowlers, as the ball probably does less than a Dukes ball,” Alan Fordham, the ECB’s operations manager, added. “Dukes gives us a competitive advantage in our home internationals, so this isn’t a takeover by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a chance to give players an opportunity to use the Kookaburra in matches in this country, rather than if they are selected for international duty for the first time.”

Hybrid pitches permitted for Championship

Hybrid pitches will also be permitted for the first time in Championship cricket, on a one-year trial basis (having previously been permitted for white-ball matches only), in a bid to assist county groundsmen in pitch preparation and maintenance.”In multiday cricket, you want pitches to deteriorate and that’s exactly what hybrid pitches are setting out not to do,” Fordham added. “But this is an opportunity to embrace technology, and respond to some of the pressures that the game is under, by playing more fixtures at these grounds during the season.”There would be no limits imposed on how many hybrid pitches any given club would be permitted to prepare per season, Fordham added.”If a county and their head grounds-manager deem that is something that they want to do, we think it will relieve some of the pressure on squares and perhaps on groundstaff themselves during the season.”But it is a one-year trial. And we are being very clear about that, because what we don’t want to encourage is the widespread stitching of pitches, because it is very difficult to de-hybrid them, but we do need to increase the carrying capacity of surfaces if we can.”

Draw points revert to eight from five

The points available for a draw in the Championship will revert to eight next season, alongside 16 for a win, after a reduction to five and 16 for 2023, but the threshold for batting points will remain at 250 and 450 runs (up from 200 and 400 in 2022), with Fordham conceding that the tweaks – aimed at encouraging more attacking, “Bazball”-style cricket – had “worked against one another a little bit”.”Batting and bowling points are a necessary evil,” Fordham added. “They fulfil two main functions. They can help to promote or incentivise good pitch preparation, but they also provide a reward when matches get washed out, so that you haven’t been playing two innings for nothing. The recommendation was that we should be rewarding the draw that little bit more, yet encouraging good batting surfaces in the County Championship.”

“These guys have to understand and learn, if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire,” Wasim said

Danyal Rasool03-Jan-2024Former Pakistan fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were scathing in their criticism of the decision to rest Shaheen Shah Afridi from the third Test at the SCG.Wasim claimed the decision “had nothing to do with the management” and was “solely [Shaheen’s] decision”, warning players more broadly they had to decide “if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire” when it came to deciding which format to prioritise.”Straight after this there are five T20s in New Zealand, and Shaheen’s the captain,” Wasim said on . “But T20 cricket, who cares? I understand, it’s there for entertainment and it’s there for financial gain for cricket boards, for players, but cricketers should know that Test cricket is the ultimate.Related

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“If we talk about what happened 20 years ago in this Test in Sydney, nobody knows what happened last night in T20. That’s the difference. These guys have to understand and learn, if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire. You can become both but with a little more sense.”Waqar was similarly surprised, saying Afridi’s absence “made me laugh”.”That’s a real shocker for me because I was expecting him to be a part of this Test match because he looked good in the previous match. He started feeling like the old Shaheen Afridi and started to swing the ball and the pace was getting better.”

Debutant Josh Clarkson took 2 for 24 on debut to keep Bangladesh to 200 for 9

Vishal Dikshit17-Dec-202330 overs A power-packed partnership of 171 for the third wicket between centurion Will Young and captain Tom Latham led the way for New Zealand to take a 1-0 lead over Bangladesh in the rain-hit first ODI in Dunedin. Chasing a stiff and revised target of 245 in 30 overs, Bangladesh had no big scores or partnerships to set up their chase.It looked like they had a chance when they were 80 for 2 in the 12th over but once debutant Josh Clarkson removed the well-set Anamul Haque and Litton Das in consecutive overs, and Rachin Ravindra had Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind, Bangladesh never recovered from 103 for 5 apart from some late fireworks from Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.New Zealand got off to a rocky start after rain had initially reduced the game to 46 overs a side after the toss, when Shoriful Islam found the edges of Rachin Ravindra and Henry Nicholls to dismiss them for ducks in the first over. From 5 for 2, Young and Latham began the recovery but Latham was dropped on 18 when Soumya Sarkar put down a catch above his head at second slip off Mustafizur Rahman. The innings was interrupted twice by rain; first in the 14th over, when it became a 40-overs-per-side contest, and then in the 20th over with New Zealand 108 for 2. Both batters had just opened up with consecutive fours from Latham against Mehidy and Young against Mustafizur that pushed the run rate towards 5.50.As soon as Latham brought up 4000 ODI runs and his 50, off 58 balls, came the longest rain interruption in the 20th over that reduced the game to a 30-over contest. After play resumed, Latham and Young hit Soumya for two sixes in an over and Latham also launched Mehidy into the car park over long-on before clobbering Soumya for three consecutive fours on the leg side. Young, after raising his fifty of 61 balls, accelerated by swatting Shoriful for two fours in an over behind square on the leg side that took them to 159 for 2 with six overs left.Running out of options, Bangladesh brought on Afif but he too got belted for two sixes before Mehidy finally gave them some respite by having Latham chop on for 92 off 77. Mark Chapman attacked from his first ball, hitting two sixes and a four in his first six balls, while Young raced from 72 to 89 in one over with four more fours off Soumya. In a dramatic 29th over from Mehidy, Young smacked a four and a six to get to 99 before Chapman was run out and Young reached his third ODI hundred off just 82 balls. Bangladesh conceded only eight runs and affected three run-outs in the final over, but New Zealand had put up a formidable 239 by hammering 131 runs off the last 64 balls after the last rain break.Josh Clarkson took two wickets on debut•Getty Images

Set a revised target of 245, Bangladesh lost Soumya for a duck when he was caught behind off Adam Milne in the first over before Anamul and Najmul Hossain Shanto steered them towards 50. Ish Sodhi, however, struck with his fourth ball by bowling Shanto around his legs by going past his reverse sweep, and when it looked like Anamul and Litton were going steady, Clarkson struck with two different kinds of short balls. He first took a return catch off Anamul by inducing a leading edge and then bowled a slower bouncer to have Litton caught behind. Like Shanto, Mushfiqur’s reverse sweep also resulted in his dismissal when his top edge was caught by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell. Bangladesh were reeling at 103 for 5, with the asking rate above 10 an over.Bangladesh were still in the game though, with Towhd Hridoy and Afif adding a quick stand of 56 off 38 balls, but it was still not enough to reduce the asking rate. They slipped further when Sodhi returned and had Hridoy caught at long leg off a wrong’un and Afif lobbed a catch to short midwicket next over. It was a lost cause to get 80 runs from six overs with three wickets in hand, and Mehidy’s blows only ensured that Bangladesh got to 200.

Stokes reveals England briefly considered refusing to travel to India without Bashir

Vithushan EhantharajahUpdated on 24-Jan-2024Shoaib Bashir has received his India visa and will travel out to join England’s Test squad in Hyderabad over the weekend, following a protracted saga in which the uncapped spinner had been required to return to the UK from the UAE to finalise the process, while the rest of his team-mates travelled to India ahead of Thursday’s first Test.Bashir, who was born and raised in Surrey, had been facing delays due to his Pakistani heritage, something with which England players with similar backgrounds have contended in the past. In 2019, Saqib Mahmood was ruled out of an England Lions tour to India, while Moeen Ali arrived late at the 2022 IPL season. Usman Khawaja, whose parents were born in Islamabad, also arrived late for Australia’s tour of India last year.After initially staying back in the UAE in the company of Stuart Hooper, the ECB’s director of cricket operations, Bashir flew back to London – where his passport was issued – to resolve the issue at the India High Commission. Hooper joined the squad in Hyderabad on Wednesday.”Shoaib Bashir has now received his visa, and is due to travel to join up with the team in India this weekend,” an ECB spokesman said. “We’re glad the situation has now been resolved.”The saga attracted the attention of the British government, which called on India to “treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa process”, while Ben Stokes, England’s captain, revealed his squad had briefly considered refusing to travel until Bashir was cleared.Stokes’ emotional reaction came in Abu Dhabi during England’s pre-tour training camp, when it emerged Bashir had not received his documents, leaving him unable to travel with the rest of the squad and England’s support staff on Sunday.”When I first found the news out in Abu Dhabi, I did say we shouldn’t fly until Bash gets his visa,” Stokes said. “But that was a little bit tongue in cheek. I know it’s a way bigger thing than doing that. That was probably just emotions around the whole thing. I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this.”As a leader, as a captain, when one of your team-mates is affected by something like that, you get a bit emotional. I know he’s back in London and a lot of people are jumping through hoops to try and get this through quicker.”Hopefully, we’re gonna see him here over the weekend. There was never a [realistic] chance that we were ever not going to travel around this but Bash knows he’s had our full support.”Related

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The British government intervened on Wednesday, reiterating its stance that India should treat British citizens “fairly” when they apply for visas. A government spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo: “The specifics of this case are a matter for Shoaib Bashir and the Indian Government.”The spokesperson added: “But we absolutely expect India to treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa process. We have previously raised the issues British citizens with Pakistani heritage experience applying for visas with the Indian High Commission in London.”The ECB had received constant assurances from the BCCI and India High Commission that the matter would be resolved, but the delay meant that Bashir was ruled out of contention for the first Test – for which England have selected three specialist spinners including another uncapped tourist in Tom Hartley.With the matter now resolved, it is understood that Bashir will spend a couple of days at home to decompress after the ordeal. The second Test of the five-match series begins on Friday 2, in Visakhapatnam.”It’s unfortunate he’s had to go through something like this,” Stokes said•AFP

“Hopefully, we are going to see him back in India over the weekend,” said Stokes. “My feelings towards it haven’t changed. It’s obviously a frustrating situation – more importantly, for him. We announced our squad mid-December. It’s now January 24 and he still doesn’t have the visa.”England announced their squad on December 11 and the ECB submitted visa applications immediately after. Rehan Ahmed, the other player in the Test squad with Pakistani heritage, already had the necessary paperwork after being on standby during the World Cup last year.”Hopefully we can get this sorted, we can get Bash out here and he can concentrate on the rest of this tour,” Stokes added. “It’s unfortunate he’s had to go through something like this on his first experience of being in the England team.”Rohit Sharma, India’s captain expressed his sympathy for Bashir’s plight. “I feel for him, honestly,” he said. “Unfortunately I don’t sit in the visa office to give you more details on that, but hopefully he can make it quickly, enjoy our country and play some cricket as well.”Additional reporting: Matt Roller. This story was updated at 13.15pm GMT following the news of Bashir’s visa

Gabe Bell and Iain Carlisle claimed the final two wickets early on the final morning

AAP04-Mar-2024Tasmania 240 (Sutherland 5-73) and 307 (Webster 167*) beat Victoria 106 (Bell 4-21) and 384 (Maddinson 109, Harris 76, Handscomb 71, Carlisle 4-58)Tasmania all but assured they will appear in their first Sheffield Shield final in six years, after defeating Victoria by 57 runs in a thrilling match in Hobart.They are in the box seat to host this month’s decider after completing their fifth win of the season early on the final day.Victoria entered the fourth and final day of the top-of-the-table match at Blundstone Arena on 373 for 8, chasing 442 for a remarkable victory.Related