England academy batting allrounder becomes first woman to move teams ahead of 2021 launch

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2020Northern Superchargers have retained Katie Levick, Adil Rashid, David Willey ahead of the Hundred’s belated launch in 2021, while England academy batting allrounder Hollie Armitage has become the first player to move teams in the women’s competition.The eight men’s teams in the ECB’s new 100-ball competition have until January to negotiate with players they wish to retain from the squad they selected in October 2019, while in the women’s tournament, players can opt to roll their contracts over to 2021 or negotiate with other teams if they wish to do so.ALSO READ: Bairstow seeks Hundred payday as Pope joins Welsh FireArmitage, who was contracted to the Oval Invincibles for the 2020 season before its postponement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, was born in Huddersfield and played for the Leeds-based Diamonds side in the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. She joins Lauren Winfield-Hill and legspinner Levick in the women’s squad.”I love being up North – there’s no better place to be playing cricket and I can’t wait to get started,” Armitage said. “There’s been a lot of publicity around the Hundred, and I think it will be great – both on and off the field. I expect the competition to be central to women’s cricket really taking off in this country.”Rashid and Willey were picked as the Superchargers’ local icon players in the men’s competition before the draft last year, and will join Ben Stokes in the squad.”With myself, Ben and David already confirmed we’re looking to build a really strong side for 2021 and hopefully we can have a successful first season,” Rashid said.

Says he is open to leading New Zealand in T20Is in the future if the management continues to rotate players

Deivarayan Muthu25-Nov-2020After being in the CPL and IPL bubbles for four months, Mitchell Santner is set to kick off the international home season with additional responsibilities. In the absence of both Kane Williamson and Tim Southee for the third T20I at the Bay Oval, Santner will step in as captain and with Ajaz Patel still under an injury cloud, the the spin-bowling allrounder has also been added to the Test squad.Santner said that he was looking forward to his captaincy debut and dashing out of Managed Isolation Quarantine (MIQ). New Zealand’s IPL contingent has cleared all three coronavirus tests and they leave Christchurch to join their national team-mates in Auckland on Thursday, a day before the T20I series opener against West Indies.”Yeah, it’s pretty cool obviously. It’s a privilege to play for your country, let alone captain it,” Santner said during a virtual media interaction. “Definitely very excited for the opportunity and looking forward to catch up with the boys tomorrow and join them in Auckland.”Pretty confident [to resume playing], we’ve got a good group down here and we’ve had some help – Baz [Brendon McCullum] and stuff is here – which is good. We’ve had some great facilities in Lincoln that they’ve put on for us. It’s been probably four months now [in biosecure bubbles] and I’m definitely ready to get out of here. Yeah, it’s going to be pretty exciting to see the lads tomorrow and play some cricket again.”Santner has played 44 T20Is so far and is New Zealand’s fourth-highest wicket-taker in the format, with 52 scalps, behind Southee, Nathan McCullum, and Ish Sodhi. He has also been part of the Chennai Super Kings side in the IPL in the past couple of years, and also made his CPL debut, for Barbados Tridents, earlier this year.New Zealand coach Gary Stead said that Santner’s T20 experience could make him a good captain as they plan for the future.”I guess when we looked at a one-off game, we started looking at who were the people we were looking to the future and Mitch has a lot of experience through the Caribbean Premier League and IPL and being with the international team for a long period of time,” Stead said. “So, it’s somewhat a trial to find out how that goes and it’s part of our planning towards further down the track when we look at the future as well. He’s still a young man has plenty of time left in the game, so it’s an opportunity to see how he performs in that role.As for Santner, he said that he was open to leading New Zealand in the future if the management continues to rotate the players in T20Is.”I’ve played a little bit of T20 cricket now under a few different captains, so it’s a great experience to be able to do this and put my spin on it,” Santner said. “T20 cricket is quite fickle and can be quite challenging at times, so definitely looking forward to the opportunity.”I guess with the schedule we’ve got, we’re obviously looking forward to the back-to-back World Cups coming up. I guess there’s going to be a little bit of rotation with the Test boys coming and going. So, give me an opportunity in the future if the other guys aren’t available as well.”Mitchell Santner taps the ball down the ground•Getty Images

While Santner conceded that life in the bubble has been difficult, he also reckoned that the past four months have given him a chance to pause and reflect.”Yeah, I guess you tend to think about things a lot more. You’ve got a lot more time obviously, it shows how lucky we are in New Zealand to be back playing cricket. The bubble life can get quite challenging at times and you’ve got to remember the good things and stuff, so definitely looking forward to play in front of a crowd on Friday, something that I haven’t done for four months or so.”Santner got only two games in the IPL, with the Super Kings failing to make the playoffs, but he said that he has learnt to “take the good with the bad”.On Friday, Santner will be facing West Indies’ power-packed left-hander-heavy middle order. The visitors could potentially have three left-handers in their middle order, including Santner’s Barbados team-mate Kyle Mayers. Santner hoped that the variations, which he has been working on, could come in handy against them.”I was working on a few things over the IPL,” Santner said. “We’ve had some great coaches over there and T20 cricket as a fingerspinner can be quite tough if you’re only doing it one way. So, I think you need these different variations and options – probably not so much in Test cricket but definitely in T20 cricket, especially with the way West Indies are lining up with a lot of left-handers. It can be quite tough, so giving yourself an option to spin the ball the other way is quite the key.”Santner had been dropped from the Test squad earlier this year after he wasn’t attacking enough in Australia. However, the return to home comforts on seamer-friendly pitches could allow him to play his usual holding role and give breaks to the fast bowlers.”The role in New Zealand as a spinner is probably different to overseas,” Santner said. “For me, to stamp my mark, I probably need to get some runs in the lower order and I guess the role of a spinner in New Zealand, if it doesn’t spin, is to dry up an end and take some pressure off the seamers at the other end and get some runs.”In the injury-enforced absence of Colin de Grandhomme, New Zealand’s batting appears lighter, but Santner backed himself to do the job at No. 7.”Yeah, I think so [can bat at No.7]. BJ at No.6 is a great [option]. Pretty happy to bat behind him,” Santner said. “If it is Killer [Kyle] Jamieson at 8, he scored some runs as well [last time]. We do bat pretty deep. The role at 7 is pretty similar to 8 – you have to bat with someone ahead of you and then maybe bat with the tail if you’re still in. I’ve been working on my batting recently and, hopefully, I can show them.”

Six-hitting exploits seal stiff run-chase after impressive display with the ball too

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Dec-2020Colombo Kings 205 for 4 (Evans 53, Qais 50*) beat Dambulla Viikings 203 for 3 (Perera 74*, Dickwella 65) by six wicketsHow the match played outWho needs Andre Russell when you have Qais Ahmad?Colombo Kings made an outstanding start to a chase of 204 in their near-dead rubber v Dambulla Viiking, with the in-form Laurie Evans plundering 53 off 24 to propel Kings to 72 for 1 off 6.5 overs. But when he was forced to retire hurt with what appeared to be an abdominal strain, Kings lost substantial momentum. They lost Lahiru Udara and Daniel Bell-Drummond in consecutive overs, and the run rate slowed as new batsmen set about establishing themselves through the middle overs. By the end of the 11th, the required rate had climbed to 11.44.Ashan Priyanjan, though, kept Kings ticking through that middle period, picking up frequent legside boundaries to keep the asking rate manageable. But with Russell having been rested for this game, and Angelo Mathews in woeful batting form this tournament, Kings still needed someone to provide the big final push.Enter Qais at No.7 at the beginning of the 14th over. He played himself in, taking only five runs off his first six deliveries, before hitting two confident consecutive fours off Malinda Pushpakumara in the 16th over. Kings needed 30 off the last 14 balls, so it looked like it was going down to the wire, but Qais made it a cakewalk. He would go on hit five sixes off the seven balls that followed, making sure he never lost the strike.It was devastating hitting. Lahiru Kumara was launched back into the sightscreen, and next over, Anwar Ali was brutalised – a six over long off, and two in the wide long-on/cow corner region coming off his next three deliveries. There was a yorker dot-ball in between, but the next ball was back-of-a-length, and that disappeared a distance beyond the deep square leg fence to end the match. Kings won with seven balls to spare. That six also took Qais to his first ever 50 in senior competitive cricket. It had come off 22 balls.Stars of the dayQais had also been outstanding with the ball, earlier, taking two wickets for 23 runs, as Viiking racked up what seemed like an imposing 203 for 3. Priyanjan, the batsman who kept Kings in the hunt until Qais’ finishing fireworks, made 47 not out off 24. For Viiking, Niroshan Dickwella and Angelo Perera had both struck half-centuries, the latter playing the more impressive innings, making 74 off 41.Where does this leave the teams?This final game of the LPL league stage didn’t really matter much. Viiking and Kings are both through. Kings, though, will now top the table and play Galle Gladiators who sneaked into the semi-final with just two victories in the league stage. That semi-final is the first one up, on Sunday. Viiking will play Jaffna Stallions in the second semi, on Monday.

The founders of Laver Cup and Betfair, and the CEO of British Telecom among fresh funders

Nagraj Gollapudi15-Jan-2021The creator of the Laver Cup in tennis, the CEO of British Telecom, the founder of Betfair are among the global entrepreneurs who have invested in the Rajasthan Royals in a fresh funding drive. The investors injected the funds via the franchise’s lead stakeholder Emerging Media IPL Limited (EMIPL), which is owned by UK-based businessman Manoj Badale.The franchise has not disclosed the value of the funding exercise, but the development means EMIPL is now the leading investor in the Royal with over 50% stake, further establishing Badale as the lead owner. The Royals, one of the eight original IPL franchises, won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008. Their fortunes have swung differently since then as the Royals finished last in IPL 2020, which was held in the UAE.”Funds were raised from a small number of new individual investors, including Ian McKinnon, one of the founding partners of TEAM8, a leading sports and entertainment company and the creator of the Laver Cup, UK business leaders including BT CEO Phil Jansen, FutureLearn and Network International Chairman Ron Kalifa and Betfair founder Ed Wray have invested, as well as Arizona-based tech entrepreneurs Kal Somani, Simer Mayo and Mihir Patel,” the franchise said in a media release on Friday.Despite being billed as an Indian domestic T20 franchise tournament, the IPL has grown into the most lucrative cricket event in the world. In 2017, Star India bought the five-year global media rights for a record sum of US$ 2.55 billion (INR 16,347.5 crore). Recently, the BCCI approved to make the IPL a ten-team event from the 2022 edition.While Somani said the IPL’s “huge potential” could not be ignored, Badale said the growing appeal of the IPL globally – the tournament has its own free window for nearly two months in the Indian summer – was what investors recognised. “Investors are now recognising the value of sports franchises,” Badale said. “EMIPL’s increased ownership of the franchise and expanded network of US-based, value-add investors presents an exciting opportunity to drive the growth of both the Rajasthan Royals and the IPL.”Mike Fordham, new Royals CEO
The Royals have also announced Mike Fordham as the Group CEO. Fordham was part of the International Management Group (IMG) team that helped the IPL take off in 2008. According to the Royals’ release, Fordham also helped the ECB in “development” of The Hundred, which is scheduled to start this summer in England after its launch was postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ebrahim played a key hand for Canterbury in their run to the title in the women’s Super Smash competition

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2021Kate Ebrahim and Thamsyn Newton have been recalled to the New Zealand women’s T20I squad for the series against England at home in March following strong performances in the domestic Super Smash competition. The T20Is, to be played after the ODI leg as a series of double-headers alongside the men’s games against Australia, will not feature Suzie Bates, who is still recovering from a right shoulder injury.Ebrahim, whose last international appearance came in a T20I against Australia in Canberra in October 2018, hit 292 runs in nine innings at an average of 73.00 for Canterbury in the Super Smash, while also picking up a wicket in the eight overs she bowled in the competition. She has played a total of 31 ODIs and 37 T20Is over the years. Wellington’s Newton, meanwhile, scored some handy runs but impressed with her medium-pace bowling, picking up seven wickets with an economy rate of 7.05 for Wellington women. She played the last of her 19 international matches in November 2017 against Pakistan in Sharjah.Related

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Both of them were in action in the Super Smash final, where Ebrahim’s 40-ball 45* helped Canterbury pull off a four-wicket win with two balls remaining.”Kate and Thamsyn have worked hard and proven their ability in the Dream11 Super Smash this season,” selector Jason Wells said in a statement. “Kate has been excellent with the bat for the [Canterbury] Magicians and yesterday’s match-winning knock in the Grand Final capped off a superb Super Smash campaign for her.”Thamsyn is an athletic cricketer whose all-round skills have served the [Wellington] Blaze well in their T20 campaign.”Apart from the missing Bates, the squad wears a familiar look, with Sophie Devine continuing to lead, and the likes of Amy Satterthwaite, Amelia Kerr, Lea Tahuhu, Leigh Kasperek and others all in the mix. “We have shown faith in this group of cricketers and believe they have the skills and talent to compete against a strong English side,” Wells said.Squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Kate Ebrahim, Maddy Green, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Amela Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin (wk), Thamsyn Newton, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite (vice-capt), Lea Tahuhu

Kumar Sangakkara says agreement with ECB means Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer will play “whole tournament”

Andrew Miller19-Feb-2021Kumar Sangakkara says that Rajasthan Royals are confident of getting first refusal on the availability of England’s trio of star players – Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler – during this year’s IPL, even if their potential involvement in the play-off phase causes them to miss the Lord’s Test against New Zealand.Although the dates of the IPL have yet to be confirmed, it is anticipated that the final rounds will take place in the first week of June, which means that England’s trio stand to miss the visit of New Zealand – the current World No.1 Test team – for at least for the first Test, between June 2-6, and depending on flights and quarantine periods, the second at Edgbaston as well, from June 10-14.Although the ECB’s attitude towards the IPL has softened in recent years, particularly in light of England’s victory at the 2019 World Cup, the notion of the tournament taking precedence over a Test match is a line in the sand that has not previously been crossed in the 12 years since England’s players were first permitted to take part.Sangakkara, however, is in no doubt where the balance of power lies, following what he described as a “tripartite” discussion between the BCCI, the ECB, and the franchises, the results of which were relayed in an email last week which stated clearly that franchises were “requested” to release non-starting players for Test selection, but that no such obligation existed for core team members such as Stokes, Archer and Buttler.Related

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“The feedback we got was that they should be available for the whole tournament and we’ve structured our strategy with that in mind,” Sangakkara said.”We did get Liam Livingstone as cover. He’s had a really good Big Bash. He’s improved in leaps and bounds. His spin-playing ability has increased, he can bat in the middle and at the top of the order and he’s going to have a month in India before the IPL starts with the T20 side.”But in terms of availability, at the moment they’re there for the whole tournament. They’re a crucial core in terms of overseas players and we’ve built our strategy around them.”Speaking in the wake of this year’s IPL auction – in which the South Africa allrounder Chris Morris became the highest-paid member of the Royals squad – Sangakkara stressed that he saw the England trio as the central plank of their strategies for the foreseeable future, even when the tournament undergoes its periodic rejig at next year’s mega-auction.Although the details for the 2022 auction are still to be confirmed, with the prospect of extra teams also being added to the mix, it is thought that franchises may be permitted to retain up to three squad members from their existing lists, as well as have the right to match any bids for further key players.”I have no doubt they’re three of the most valuable players in the world,” Sangakkara said. “They’re three players who know how to deal with pressure, who’ve proven time and time again their excellence out in the middle.”Jos Buttler is extremely adaptable in the way he plays. He’s one of the few I have seen, alongside AB de Villiers, who can do that role. Archer is a superstar. He was the most valuable player in the IPL last season. And Stokes, there’s nothing else you can say about Ben Stokes other than that he’s exactly the type of player any side would want.”We’re very happy to have them as our core. They’ve been with Rajasthan for a while now. There is a big auction next year, but they’ll definitely be part of the core that Rajasthan build their strategy around, not just this year but once the big auction comes, there will be a big focus on them remaining here.”0:40

‘We’ve rebalanced our side, Chris Morris fills an important role for us’ – Royals CEO McCrum

Rajasthan’s strategies in the 2020 season varied significantly from match to match, particularly at the top of the order, with Buttler relinquishing his opener’s role to Stokes following the latter’s late arrival at the tournament, a decision that paid off with Stokes’ 59-ball century against Mumbai Indians.And Sangakkara hinted that that approach might continue into the 2021 season, a development that could have knock-on effects for England’s plans leading into the T20 World Cup in November.”Stokes has historically been a player who has been extremely impactful in the middle order and Jos at the top. [But] Buttler is the more adaptable player,” Sangakkara said. “We’re looking at him in the role where he can do either [top or middle] and fit into that core role of being our linchpin batsman around whom we have everyone else.”There is quite a marked difference in terms of strategy and rules when it comes to international cricket, although there are instances where a little move in a franchise might free up a player to do something different,” he added. “But what you need is clarity, in terms of what you’re doing here, and what you’re going to do for England, and enough preparation between the two to get your game in order.”

Cricket Ireland’s new strategic plan launches with focus on qualification for World Cups

Matt Roller09-Apr-2021Cricket Ireland has stressed the need for greater central funding from the ICC and more context for their Test cricket, while launching its strategic plan for 2021-23.Ireland have not played a Test since July 2019, when they bowled England out for 85 at Lord’s, and they will not play another until 2022 at the earliest, following a further postponement to their fixture away in Sri Lanka. They have prioritised white-ball cricket ahead of the three upcoming World Cups – two T20I, one ODI – and the inter-provincial system will not feature any first-class fixtures this summer.Ahead of the publication of the new strategic plan – which aims to “strengthen our sport so that we are in a position to benefit and grow when the new ICC funding cycle begins” – Richard Holdsworth, CI performance director, emphasised the significant costs involved in staging Test cricket and the lack of context outside of the World Test Championship as the main reasons for Ireland’s limited fixture list in the format.Related

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“There’s no doubt that we aspire to be a regular Test-playing nation – the board agrees, the coaches agree, and the players are desperate to play more Test cricket,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “But we’re prioritising white-ball cricket in this strategy because what is most important to the business is that we qualify for World Cups. In terms of funding, sponsorship, and commercial stakeholders, it’s important that we’re at the top table when it comes to World Cups.”We don’t want to neglect the red-ball game but the reality is that with the budget we’ll have for the next three years, we have to prioritise in the right areas and we firmly believe that prioritising qualification for those three World Cups over the next three years is paramount, and we are continually challenged by the cost of hosting home Tests.”Ireland’s inaugural – and so far only – home Test, against Pakistan in 2018, cost the board nearly €1m (US$ 1.18 million approx.) to stage, with the ground in Malahide requiring expensive temporary infrastructure to turn it into a major venue. The strategic plan includes a commitment to putting processes in place for the stadium at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, three years after the board voted for its development, to be ready.CI is also encouraging the ICC to reduce the minimum broadcast standards required to stage Tests, and is discussing the possibility of a second tier of the World Test Championship to guarantee them more regular fixtures 2023 onwards.”Before we became full members, we were playing our part in putting the Future Tours Programme together and everything that was being discussed was “context, context, context”,” Holdsworth said. “But coming back to Test cricket, we were talking about context in everything – but Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe are playing Test cricket without any context at all.”We firmly believe that prioritising qualification for those three World Cups over the next three years is paramount”•Abu Dhabi Cricket

“We’ve been communicating with the ICC and we believe that whatever that first division looks like, there needs to be some context for the next division down. I don’t think it helps any of the three of us to promote Test cricket without that context. It’s just one-off Tests here and there.”It’s good to see the ICC’s board taking that seriously. If we don’t promote the three of us playing Test cricket then we’re down to nine teams, and where does that go? If there are only four or five Test teams in ten years’ time, that’d be disastrous for the sport. We can’t let that happen. We have to make sure there is competitive Test cricket out there. Let’s hope we get some context in the next cycle and we can allow for two divisions.”The strategic plan highlights five priorities: qualification for all ICC tournaments, increasing participation at grassroots levels, establishing infrastructure and facilities required of a full member, growing the women’s game, and supporting the continuing development of the provincial unions.Warren Deutrom, CI chief executive, said: “How certain of success can we be with this plan? Just consider the journey and achievements over the last decade – consider that we are now one of only 12 countries seated at the top table of the world’s second largest sport. Consider, too, the immense strength and depth of Irish cricketing heritage and structures within our sport.”We have an innate belief in the ability of the Irish cricket community to endure, to adapt and to grow. We want Ireland to become a cricket island once more. And I hope the Irish cricket community can work with us on creating an increasingly vibrant, engaging and welcoming sport for all.”

Twin hundreds for Hameed as Nottinghamshire save the game in glorious fashion

Paul Edwards25-Apr-2021
Ed Barnard bowls to Ben Slater. The match in which they are playing will soon be drawn as firmly as Excalibur was fixed in the stone. Yet the contest will soon be of particular interest to statisticians, for all three innings already boast century opening partnerships and Haseeb Hameed will make two hundreds in a game for the second time in his young career.Hameed and Slater, another centurion, will put on an unbroken 236, thus breaking Nottinghamshire’s first-wicket record against Worcestershire, the now-expunged mark of 220 having been set by George Gunn and ‘Dodger’ Whysall in 1924. But the passage of nearly a century between events is most fitting. No wicket will fall for over a day at New Road and in his two innings Hameed will bat 13 hours 41 minutes and face a total of 635 balls. The latter will set a new record for County Championship matches.In other worlds brilliant men and women are developing advanced vaccines and wise leaders are reaching tentative agreements about climate change.But this afternoon, in crystal sunlight at New Road, Ed Barnard bowls to Ben Slater and number crunchers move into helpful overdrive about a deeply drawn cricket match. What can it matter?For the answer to that question one must consider, as others have done, the wider impact of the past year. Recreation – in part, the act of re-creating valuable experience – has been shown to have a value beyond even our previous conception of that myriad. It has bound us together in the darkest times. Unable to enjoy it in conventional fashion, we have experienced it remotely, thus sustaining the rich sense of community upon which so much else, not least mental health, depends.And community is what we’re preserving in these spectator-free weeks. The doors will be closed for a few weeks yet but the county clubs are available to their supporters in every other way. My colleague David Hopps, no one-eyed optimist he, put it perfectly in a superbly balanced essay written for : “Community and heritage, though, is why county cricket matters… Discover it, nurture it, save it. It has never been more vital.”And county cricket still commands the loyalty of unsuspected thousands of supporters. The live streams and the websites have revealed that. Some Worcestershire loyalists and very many more Nottinghamshire ones would have paid double the usual entry price to watch Hameed and Slater become the first Trent Bridge openers since Tim Robinson and Matthew Dowman in 1995 to share century opening stands in each innings of a game.There is already speculation as to how big the crowds will be for four-day games when spectators are allowed in on May 20. Those that haven’t booked probably needn’t bother. After May 16 they can admit 895 spectators here; after June 21 there are hopes of full houses, maybe even for Championship games. Who’d have thought it?Related

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Today, though, neither the efforts of Joe Leach’s bowlers nor the occasional eccentricities of a fourth-day pitch were enough to bring Worcestershire a victory. One suspects the teams could have played another dozen hours and not produced a winner on a surface that always promised more help than it delivered. Six of the 12 sessions in this game were wicketless. Stump and bail flashed and flew… infrequently. Batters rarely departed, pensively or otherwise. So we were left to ponder Slater’s mercilessness when dealing with short balls and his powers of concentration in making a century on the ground where he revived his career with a 172 for Leicestershire less than a year ago. Loan spells are rarely so pivotal in a player’s career.As for Hameed, the mannerisms remain. Between each delivery there is still the farmer’s gentle amble to square leg with the bat balanced, scythe-like, on his shoulder. He is still occasionally inclined to play two shots to every ball, one real and one yet more perfect as the bowler returns to his mark. The trigger movements and technique have undergone small but significant modifications: the slightest of forward presses, for example. More notably, there is more intent to score by angled cuts to third man or glances to fine leg: they are his staple diet when his punches through midwicket or cover drives are not on offer. Most importantly of all, there is trustworthy judgement and a lovely greed for batting.”Just as we were about to follow-on Ben Duckett told me it was an opportunity to go out and get another century,” said Hameed. “Peter Moores said the same not long after but it’s a great leveller when you go out there and the scoreboard says “0”. Thankfully, though, I was able to start again and go through the processes again. It wasn’t overly difficult to focus again because I was disappointed I’d got out in the first innings and I was in the moment as soon as they asked us to go out there again.”And so two of these four days have been about a 24-year-old cricketer rebuilding his career with the sort of studious, attentive batting that some sceptics doubted they’d see again. That enriching sight has taken its place amid timeless pleasures. So much has changed on this ground but the essential aspect remains the same. A couple of diseased trees have had to be felled; nature does not exist to satisfy poets or painters. But the chestnut in front of the marquee remains and stood in young-leafed grace as Hameed and Slater extended their partnership into its fifth, sixth and seventh hours.And it mattered because county cricket is about the game and everything around the game. This week it has been about listening with agnostic piety to evensong in the cathedral on Wednesday evening, when the choristers gave us George Herbert’s “The Call” in the Vaughan Williams setting that was first performed at Worcester during the Three Choirs festival in 1911. It has been about peregrine falcons in the cathedral tower. It has been about Hameed embracing the rich talent he still possesses. It has been about the black pear tree and the damasked tulips in Cripplegate Park. It has been about chilly mornings on Bromwich Parade and gentle dusks with the Malverns fading from view. And it has been about Ed Barnard bowling to Ben Slater in crystal sunlight.

The BCCI on Monday asked the players to raise invoices to get their share

Annesha Ghosh and Shashank Kishore24-May-2021Nearly 15 months after they finished runners-up in the T20 World Cup, the India Women squad will finally receive its share of the prize money amounting to USD 500,000 (INR 3.5 crore approximately). ESPNcricinfo has learned that the BCCI on Monday asked the players to raise invoices to get their shares.The development comes a day after the UK publication revealed that the squad had not yet been paid its prize money despite other teams including Australia, who won the World Cup, receiving theirs soon after the tournament was over.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the ICC disbursed the prize money to the BCCI last March, around a week after the World Cup final, which was played in front of a record 86,174 spectators on International Women’s Day (March 8) at the MCG.When asked for a comment, BCCI officials told ESPNcricinfo they have no knowledge of the reason behind the delay. ESPNcricinfo confirmed the delay with more than one player and support staff member who were part of the India squad led by Harmanpreet Kaur.The delay raised eyebrows because the BCCI is learned to have disbursed all other payments owed to the players since March 2020. This includes three instalments of their central contracts fee for 2019-20, match fees, and appearance fees for the Women’s T20 Challenge in Sharjah last November. Recently the players are understood to have submitted their invoices for match fees for the limited-overs home series against South Africa in March 2021. The payments are still awaited, though.Incidentally the BCCI is learned to have distributed the prize money allocated by the ICC to the India team that finished runners-up in the 2020 Men’s Under-19 World Cup, which was won by Bangladesh last February in South Africa. The Women’s T20 World Cup took place only a few weeks later. According to , the victorious Australia Women players received their share of the prize money amounting to USD 1.6 million soon after the tournament.

Young Surrey spinners seize control as Gloucestershire follow-on at The Kia Oval

Alan Gardner29-May-2021Surrey strutted their way towards what was set to be a crushing win over Group Two leaders Gloucestershire, as 14 wickets fell on day three at the Kia Oval. Dan Moriarty, the left-arm spinner playing in only his third first-class match, was the architect of the visitors’ demise as his career-best 6 for 60 enabled Surrey to enforce the follow on. A parched Saturday-evening crowd then wallowed in the occasion as Gloucestershire tottered to five down in their second dig.Rarely do Surrey have licence to play the underdog card, but having lost to these opponents in the opening round of fixtures there was an added bite to their play here. In the stands, some pinkly glistening patrons attempted to start a “thunder clap”, made famous by Iceland’s football fans during exuberant campaigns at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup. Gloucestershire, still 191 runs adrift at the close and having collected just two bowling bonus points from their trip to Kennington, face going home with little more than a pat on the back.Surrey went into this game missing the services of three of their England internationals (Rory Burns and Ollie Pope with the Test squad, Ben Foakes the victim of a freak dressing-room injury), and having seen overseas quick Kemar Roach depart for West Indies duty; but such are the resources available in south London that they have been in charge from the moment stand-in captain Hashim Amla won the toss on Thursday morning.Moriarty’s first appearance of the season brought him a fourth consecutive five-wicket haul in Championship cricket, as he and Amar Virdi took up the gauntlet of spinning their team towards victory. Roach’s replacement, Australia international Sean Abbott, then claimed his first Surrey scalps to rattle Gloucestershire in their second innings.Arguably the most significant absence has been that of James Bracey, Gloucestershire’s leading run-scorer and a man with the methodical minerals to have set the tone for a rearguard effort. Miles Hammond did a passable impression at No. 3, facing 257 balls for 111 runs and once out in the day, but a collapse of 4 for 5 during a chaotic half-hour in the first session effectively scuppered their likeliest escape route here.Amar Virdi was in the wickets as Surrey dominated Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Rarely does the county game provide the stage for two young, English spinners to dictate proceedings in tandem, but with the sun shining down on a dry and dusty Oval, conditions were ripe for Virdi and Moriarty to wheel away. Le tweak, c’est chic, as the French don’t quite say. Certainly they are a complementary pair, having taken 18 wickets together in the victory over Sussex during last season’s Bob Willis Trophy. Virdi, the diminutive offspinner, bounds in and gives the ball a twirl, while the taller, more angular Moriarty sinisterly stalks his quarry.Asked to bat again in the face of a 315-run deficit, Kraigg Brathwaite and Chris Dent walked out to find Moriarty and Virdi waiting for them again. Gloucestershire’s openers survived their unusual new-ball test, only for Brathwaite to chip a return catch to Jamie Overton, before Abbott struck twice in as many overs, pinning Dent in front and then castling Tom Lace to send the former Middlesex man on his way having bagged a pair.Ryan Higgins avoided the same fate, but was stumped off Virdi deep into an extended evening session – Jamie Smith completing the dismissal after a smart take by his left shoulder – after Ian Cockbain had fallen to a ripping offbreak.For the first hour of the day, Gloucestershire seemed capably attuned to the requirements of navigating a way past the follow-on target of 324. While spin was always likely to play the major role, this used pitch was still some way removed from a raging Bunsen. Indeed, after Brathwaite and Hammond had seen off the opening overs of seam – the latter taking advantage of Overton’s pace to pull and drive three boundaries in as many overs – the introduction of Virdi and Moriarty initially did little to change the tenor of the morning.In the end it was a lack of turn, deliberate or otherwise from Virdi, that succeeded in foxing Brathwaite, as the West Indies opener played around an offbreak that went straight on to rap the back pad. Virdi was off and running, haring across the square in celebration, and so were Surrey, as the visitors tumbled from 84 for 1 to 89 for 5 inside five calamitous overs.Related

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Lace was Moriarty’s first victim, sucked into pushing at a flighted delivery from round the wicket that straightened just enough to clip the outside edge. Cockbain attempted to counterattack but only succeeded in cuffing his sweep off Virdi straight to square leg, and Higgins was guilty of an even more glaring misjudgement when he offered his second ball unimpeded passage into off stump. With Jonny Tattersall turning a full delivery straight into the hands of leg slip and Tom Smith snapped up one-handed by Jacks at forward short leg off the face of the bat, Moriarty had four and Gloucestershire were limping to lunch on 113 for 7.Despite the carnage at the other end, Hammond had doggedly held the line throughout, earning praise from a small-but-vocal pocket of Gloucestershire support in the JM Finn Stand. He moved to a sixth first-class fifty – and first for Gloucestershire since 2019 – with a single from his 124th ball, though might have been stumped in the following over when Moriarty turned one inside the bat only for it to elude Smith as well.Surrey’s charge was briefly held up by the eighth-wicket pair, as Matt Taylor dug in for more than an hour. He had just driven Abbott through extra cover for four when he left a delivery from Jacks that spun big to hit off stump and give the Surrey allrounder his maiden first-class wicket. Moriarty claimed the last two, including that of Hammond, who dragged a short delivery to midwicket; the spinner’s name may hint at Machiavellian intent but Gloucestershire were too often complicit in being duped.