All posts by n8rngtd.top

Sean Williams missing through injury with Craig Ervine named as captain

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2023Gary Ballance is set to play Test cricket for the first time since 2017 after being named in Zimbabwe’s squad to face West Indies in next month’s two-match series.Sean Williams will miss the Tests in Bulawayo as he recovers from a fractured finger, with Craig Ervine, playing his first Test in three years, captaining the side in Williams’ absence.Zimbabwe will also be without allrounders Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl due to franchise commitments overseas, while fast bowlers Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarabani are both out injured.There are a host of uncapped players in the 16-man squad, with Tafadzwa Tsiga, Joylord Gumbie, Kudzai Maunze and Tanunurwa Makoni rewarded for their domestic form in the Logan Cup.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Innocent Kaia, Bradley Evans and Tanaka Chivanga, who have all played limited-overs internationals, could be in line for Test debuts. Chamu Chibhabha has been recalled six years after his last Test appearance, while experienced allrounder Donald Tiripano has also been included.Ballance played 23 Tests for England between 2014 and 2017, scoring four hundreds and averaging 37.45. He returned to Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, after being released by Yorkshire last year and made his ODI debut against Ireland earlier this month.The series, which begins at Queens Sports Club on Saturday, will mark Zimbabwe’s return to Test cricket after an 18-month gap.Zimbabwe Test squad to play West Indies: Gary Ballance, Chamunorwa Chibhabha, Tanaka Chivanga, Craig Ervine (capt), Bradley Evans, Joylord Gumbie, Innocent Kaia, Tanunurwa Makoni, Wellington Masakadza, Kudzai Maunze, Brandon Mavuta, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi, Milton Shumba, Donald Tiripano, Tafadzwa Tsiga

Wickets tumble as hosts reach small target to keep pressure on Surrey at top of Division One

ECB Reporters Network22-Jul-2023Essex 458 for 8 dec (Critchley 117, A Cook 87, Harmer 83*, Arshdeep 3-58) and 30 for 3 beat Kent 207 (Compton 47, S Cook 3-19) and 280 (Finch 114, Evison 58, S Cook 4-46, Harmer 4-72) by seven wicketsEssex made heavy weather of scoring the 30 runs required to beat Kent by seven wickets and secure their fourth successive LV= Insurance County Championship victory. It needed Paul Walter to keep his head when others around him were losing theirs and stroke the winning runs 23 balls into what turned into a more difficult run chase than necessary.Essex attempted to make light work of reaching the target and were halfway there from the first over bowled by Hamid Qadri. But that was the prelude to the drama. Dan Lawrence was first to go when he tried to hit Grant Stewart’s first ball out of the ground but only skied to mid-on.Adam Rossington followed in the next over, lbw attempting to reverse sweep Qadri, and first-innings centurion Matt Critchley departed first ball to a caught-and-bowled by the offspinner, taken running back and over his head at mid-on. That was 23 for 3 in the third over, but Essex managed to get over the line in the next over to take 21 points and keep up the pressure on Championship leaders Surrey.With the threat of rain around later in the day, Essex needed eight overs before breaking the stubborn overnight partnership. But once Qadri departed to a smart catch at short square leg by Simon Harmer the innings collapsed in just six balls.Sam Cook added a second of the morning three balls later when Matt Quinn played on and Joey Evison fell lbw to the first ball of Harmer’s 44th over of the innings. Harmer finished with 4 for 72 to take his season’s tally to 41 wickets and Cook had figures of 4 for 46.

Rashid Khan takes three wickets in a set as Southern Brave suffer third straight defeat

ECB Media18-Aug-2025An all-action display from Sam Curran and another eye-catching half-century from Jordan Cox eased reigning champions Oval Invincibles to a seven-wicket win over Southern Brave and extended their lead at the top of the table.Set 134 to win, Invincibles lost their openers cheaply, Will Jacks and Tawanda Muyeye both falling to Craig Overton, but Cox continued his red-hot form with a classy 37-ball 56 and Curran capped a fine all-round performance by making an unbeaten 50 from 32 deliveries.Cox fell to Tymal Mills with 15 still required but captain Sam Billings struck three boundaries to ensure there were no further alarms as the visitors sealed the win with 11 balls to spare, their fourth victory in five.Invincibles overcame Brave in last year’s final and they made an impressive start at Utilita Bowl, Australia left-armer Jason Behrendorff making early inroads when he had both James Vince and Leus du Plooy caught at short third by Tom Curran, who then knocked back Laurie Evans’ off stump to leave the Brave 32 3.Things went from bad to worse for the hosts when Rashid Khan was thrown the ball. Six days ago, the Afghan leggie returned figures of 0 for 59 at Edgbaston but he was irrepressible against Brave, striking three times in his opening set to send Jason Roy, Michael Bracewell and James Coles on their way. Those scalps took Rashid to a competition-high haul of 10 in the Hundred this summer.With the Brave sinking fast at 44 for 6, Hilton Cartwright and Jordan Thompson counterattacked, the latter making a sprightly 13-ball 24 before nicking off to Sam Curran, who then castled Cartwright (42 off 30) with a pinpoint yorker.Curran struck again to dismiss Jofra Archer with a super-slow delivery before Mills was the last man out, run out by the live-wire Curran, to end the Brave innings on 133 from 98 balls, not enough to prevent last year’s runners-up slumping to a third straight defeat.Sam Curran, the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “It was a really big win. The way the table is at the moment, we knew it was such a big game, they’re a really good team.”I’m just really enjoying it. It’s a lovely bunch of guys. We’ve been together a while and turning up to work and playing with your mates and having coaches who know you is great.”On sharing a 101-run partnership with Cox, he said: “He’s special, the way he’s playing is incredible. The way he’s striking the ball is so clean and so skilful. Our partnership took the pressure off early. We knew they had some key bowlers and thankfully we saw them off and got the win.”

Former allrounder was jailed for rape in 2019, and served two years of a five-year sentence

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2024Alex Hepburn, the former Worcestershire allrounder, has been suspended from playing in ECB competitions for 10 years by the Cricket Discipline Commission, three years after serving a prison sentence for rape.Earlier this year, Hepburn was charged by the Cricket Regulator with two breaches of ECB Directive 3.3. The first related to his conviction in 2019, for which he was released in October 2021 after serving two years of a five-year sentence, while the second related to his participation in a misogynistic Whatsapp group during his playing days with Worcestershire in 2017.Hepburn, now 28, has not played professionally since the details of his arrest in April 2017 were made public. In the course of his four-day trial, it was heard how Hepburn had “dehumanised” women, rating them in text messages to his team-mates in a “sexual conquest competition”.He was subsequently found guilty on one count of oral rape, after an attack that took place in the flat that he shared with his then team-mate, Joe Clarke, with whom the victim had initially believed she was having sex. He appealed against the conviction, but the appeal was dismissed in September 2020.Given Hepburn’s time in prison, the Cricket Regulator was only able to serve him notification of the charge earlier this year, but his suspension has been backdated to the date of his release, on October 30, 2021. The suspension relating on the second charge, for a period of two years, is deemed to have been already served.A statement from the Cricket Regulator added: “Mr Hepburn failed to respond to the charge letter and related communication. As such, the CDC panel reached its decision in his absence. Mr Hepburn has not appealed the CDC panel’s decision.”Hepburn will also have to undertake “appropriate professional treatment” for the issues which led to his criminal conviction, and undertake appropriate training and education courses before he will be permitted to play, coach or undertake any cricket-related activity which falls under the authority of the ECB.He has also been placed on the sex offenders register for life as part of his conviction.

BCCI president expects the tournament to be “as big and grand a success as men’s IPL”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Feb-2022The BCCI is at the final stages of planning for a Women’s IPL, according to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who has said he strongly believes that the tournament should take off in 2023.”We are at the level of formulation to have a full-fledged WIPL. It is certainly going to happen,” Ganguly told PTI on Friday. “I strongly believe that next year i.e. 2023 will be a very good time to start a full-fledged women’s IPL which will be as big and grand a success as men’s IPL.”After India finished runners-up to England in the 2017 ODI World Cup, and then second-best to Australia at the T20 World Cup in 2020, the women’s game in the country has cornered a lot more attention than it had previously.But despite prominent voices asking for a T20 league for women in India along the lines of the WBBL or the now-defunct Kia Super League (the women’s Hundred has taken its place), the BCCI has opted not to go ahead, so far, choosing instead to only host a three-team Women’s T20 Challenge alongside the playoffs of the men’s IPL. This started in 2018 as a two-team event, with one exhibition match, and expanded to a three-team affair in 2019 and 2020, but was scrapped in 2021, even though the men’s tournament took place (in two parts because of the Covid-19 situation).The BCCI’s argument against the Women’s IPL has been that Indian cricket doesn’t possess the sort of depth in its domestic circuit that is required for the tournament to be worthwhile. In 2019, Ganguly had, in fact, suggested that a seven-team women’s IPL could well come to fruition in 2023, when he had said, “You need a lot more women players. I see that in four years’ time, to get a seven-team IPL with the best women players [in participation].”As such, there are at least 1100 registered women’s players in India in any domestic season, and around 40 players who have either played for India since the 2018-19 season or are on the fringes of selection.

England quick thought he’d seen it all in 20 years of Test cricket. He has now

Vithushan Ehantharajah29-Jun-2022Across 20 years of Test cricket, James Anderson has endured and so far out-lived many different dressing-room regimes. He has served under six head coaches and eight Test captains, in a variety of combinations, all imposing their whims and ethos (or trying to at least) with varying degrees of success. So when he says there is something unique about the environment he is experiencing under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, it’s probably worth taking him seriously.We are only three matches into this era, albeit all wins, and McCullum has only been in the country for a month. And with India up next on Friday at Edgbaston in the re-arranged fifth Test of last year’s 2021 series, the visitors will be more than willing to burst the bubble as part of turning their 2-1 series lead into a 3-1 win. Yet after three successful chases, the most remarkable being their pursuit of 299 in just 50 overs at Trent Bridge, those involved feel they are at the start of something truly special. And that includes a 39-year-old who has seen it all. Or at least he thought he had.”I have never been in a dressing-room before when we have chased 300 (299) on a pitch that is turning and everyone being so calm, believing we were going to chase them down,” said Anderson. “That for me, after 20 years of playing international cricket, I had never seen before.”You always get a few jittery people but one to 11 and the staff included were just calm and believed. I think that belief can go such a long way, especially with the young players we have got. We’re trying to develop their confidence and experience, I think that will do wonders for them.”Anderson played the first two Tests, taking 12 wickets before missing the third with a sore left ankle, though he admitted he would have pushed through the pain had the series been level. He is likely to return to the attack this week and took part in training on Wednesday along with Ben Foakes who was pulled out midway through the last Test after testing positive for Covid-19. The three quicks who featured at Headingley – Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts and Jamie Overton – did not bowl.Anderson was in the home dressing-room to watch England seal their 3-0 series win in style. It was another final flourish, as they knocked off 296 with ease, with Jonny Bairstow the catalyst once more as he smashed 71 off 44 deliveries to end the game in a hurry, as part of a 111-run partnership with Joe Root (86 not out) off 14.3 overs. As entertaining as it was, Anderson admitted to feeling sorry for New Zealand’s attack.James Anderson has credited Ben Stokes for the attacking nature of his fields•Getty Images

“‘I think it’s horrible,” he said, speaking from a bowler’s perspective. “I don’t want to think of someone coming at me like that. I thought New Zealand bowled really well to be honest, especially that spell when they got us 55 for 6, it was one of the best opening spells I’ve seen for a long time. But the confidence our batters have got at the moment – they’re fearless and we saw the way they all played. They just want to progress the game, I guess.”Anderson did, however, suggest that England’s success so far has been largely down to the state of the pitches, and the 2022 edition of the red Dukes ball which goes softer earlier, resulting in several ball-changes in the series, some well before the usual 80 overs were up. He admitted to being “frustrated” watching the previous Test, as players on both sides regularly approached the umpire to check the shape of the ball.”It was like, ‘get on with the game’! But that’s the real frustration, they go out of shape so quickly, they go so soft, they don’t really swing,” Anderson said. “There’s obviously something fundamentally wrong, something about the ball and it’s annoying to keep on changing it. I’m sure the umpires will be annoyed as well.”The pitches against New Zealand were also flat, and while England were able to out-gun New Zealand, that may prove trickier against India. Though the tourists have had hampered preparations with just one warm-up match against Leicestershire and Covid issues that, among others, have left their captain Rohit Sharma as a selection doubt, they certainly have the players on paper to match England if they wanted to go shot-for-shot. And an attack that will have taken hints from the first four matches of this series, last summer.”You have to just keep trusting yourself and tell yourself to bowl your best ball and hope they make a mistake, hope that one of the balls that goes in the air goes to hand, or they nick one or something,” Anderson said, when assessing how to manage with an unreliable ball and an all-too reliable batting surface.One theory about the lack of movement seen over the last year or so has been the prohibition of saliva for shining the ball. It was initially a temporary measure to prevent the spread of Covid on the field, but it has since been brought in permanently. “Potentially it could be that,” Anderson said. “But I’m not sure it’s ever going to change, certainly in the foreseeable future, because of the Covid situation.” He revealed both sets of bowlers chatted after the last Test, and are very much in favour of bringing saliva back, but appreciated that that time may have gone.Related

• Anderson, Broad, Southee, Boult: The last hurrah of seam-bowling's Fab Four

• England benefit from New Zealand's self-destructive tendencies

• Bazball and the allure of the Edgbaston Test that awaits India

• Covid-positive Rohit faces race against time to play Edgbaston Test

Nevertheless, playing attacking cricket is not limited to batting, and Stokes has been a key driver of a bolshier approach in the field, even at times when the game looks to be getting away. After taking ten wickets in the match at Leeds, Jack Leach credited Stokes with the stubbornness for not letting the left-arm spinner push his mid-on back to the boundary, and a uniform approach to field placings that was adopted for all the attack.”He is always thinking and talking to the bowlers about different field settings and different ways of getting people out,” Anderson said. “We talk a lot about it in practice, away from the field as well. It is really enjoyable to think outside the box because I’m not that creative. I have always been three slips, gully, cover. Having someone that thinks outside the box like Stokesy and Brendon is really good.”When it was swinging at Lord’s we had lots of slips in, we didn’t have a backward point. Just trying to get fielders in the eyeline of the batter to put them off and try to make them think of stuff. We have had leg slips in. It is constantly [about] looking for the wicket-taking option.”

Siraj is expected to link up with the squad later today in Guwahati

Shashank Kishore30-Sep-2022Mohammed Siraj has been named as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement in India’s T20I squad for the remainder of the series against South Africa. Siraj is expected to link up with the squad later today in Guwahati, ahead of the second T20I on Sunday.Siraj’s late call-up comes on the back of fresh injury concerns for Bumrah, who was required to undergo scans on his lower back in Bengaluru before the National Cricket Academy’s medical staff takes a final call on his participation in the T20 World Cup.Siraj last featured in a T20I for India in February against Sri Lanka and is seen mainly as a red-ball option at present. His latest outing was a one-off appearance for Warwickshire against Somerset earlier this month, where he picked up a five-wicket haul.So far Siraj has played only five T20Is, picking up as many wickets at an economy of 10.45. Since 2020, however, he’s been a regular feature for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and was also one of three retentions for them ahead of this year’s auction.Siraj isn’t the only late addition to the squad. Just before the series opener, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed and Umesh Yadav were also included in the side.Iyer came in for the injured Deepak Hooda, who is also under the supervision of the BCCI’s medical staff at the NCA, while Umesh filled in for Mohammed Shami, who is recuperating from Covid-19 having returned a negative test. Shahbaz, meanwhile, replaced Hardik Pandya, who is undergoing “conditioning-related work” at the NCA.The Guwahati T20I on Sunday will be followed by the final match of the series in Indore on Tuesday. The World Cup-bound squad is expected to depart later that week for Australia, where they will have a short camp in Perth. The selectors are likely to announce a second-string squad, led by Shikhar Dhawan, for the three-match ODI series against South Africa.India squad for 2nd and 3rd T20Is: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vice-capt), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj

ICC cites integrity and player safety for change to gender eligibility regulations

Hemant Brar21-Nov-2023Danielle McGahey, who became the first transgender player to feature in international cricket earlier this year, will no longer be able to participate in women’s international games following a key change to the ICC’s gender eligibility regulations.Under the new rules, approved by the ICC board on Tuesday, any player who has transitioned from male to female and has been through any form of male puberty will not be allowed to participate in women’s international cricket, regardless of any surgery or gender reassignment treatment they may have undertaken.McGahey, a 29-year-old batter, is originally from Australia but moved to Canada in 2020 and underwent a male-to-female medical transition in 2021. In September 2023, she appeared for Canada in the Women’s T20 Americas Qualifier, the pathway tournament to the 2024 T20 World Cup. So far, she has played six T20Is, scoring 118 runs at an average of 19.66 and a strike rate of 95.93.Related

• Danielle McGahey acknowledges her international career 'is over' after ICC transgender ruling

• ICC to introduce stop clock to regulate pace of play

• ICC shifts Men's Under 19 World Cup from Sri Lanka to South Africa

Brazil Women’s captain Roberta Moretti Avery, against whose side McGahey played two T20Is and registered her best of 48, respected the ICC’s decision but called its timing “unfortunate”.”It’s a decision that appears to have been made by the ICC in good faith with the benefit of the most recent scientific advice,” Avery told ESPNcricinfo. “That said, the timing of the decision is really unfortunate.”Danielle McGahey was allowed to play in the recent World Cup Qualifier on the basis of the rules that applied at the time. As a result, she was subjected to a lot of abuse from people who have never met her and who do not understand the difficult journey she has been on.”She and her team-mates also had a reasonable expectation that she would be allowed to play in future matches. So it’s unfortunate that this decision has been made after the event, once Danielle’s hopes had been raised and after she has already been exposed to a huge amount of scrutiny and abuse. That can’t be good for anyone’s mental health. The ICC lifted the hopes of a whole community and it feels like those hopes have now been dashed.”The ICC finalised the new policy following a nine-month consultation process with the sport’s stakeholders. “It is based on the following principles (in order of priority), protection of the integrity of the women’s game, safety, fairness and inclusion,” the board stated in a release. “The regulations will be reviewed within two years.”ICC CEO Geoff Allardice added: “Inclusivity is incredibly important to us as a sport, but our priority was to protect the integrity of the international women’s game and the safety of players.”For now, the review, which was led by the ICC medical advisory committee chaired by Dr Peter Harcourt, relates to gender eligibility for international women’s cricket only. “The gender eligibility at domestic level is a matter for each individual Member board, which may be impacted by local legislation,” the ICC said.

The allrounder received a guard of honour in what seemed to be his final CPL game

Deivarayan Muthu19-Sep-2024Andre Russell summed up the overwhelming feeling at the Queen’s Park Oval as the Trinidad crowd turned up in droves on Wednesday to celebrate one of its greatest T20 heroes in what was possibly his last CPL game.Before the start of CPL 2024, Dwayne Bravo had announced he would retire from the league after the end of the ongoing season. But he has played just two games so far this season, and the one against defending champions Guyana Amazon Warriors at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain might have been his last, Russell suggested after winning the Player-of-the-Match award and dedicating it to his good friend.”I’m just happy to be part of this game tonight and that’s the reason why so much emotion was kind of behind that celebration,” Russell said after Trinbago Knight Riders beat Amazon Warriors by five wickets. “He [Bravo] deserves a win tonight. You have helped me a lot with my cricket – how to outthink the batter and then to be a smarter bowler. You’re not going to get it right all the time but once you have the right mindset to get the execution, I think you’re on the right way.”We’re going to miss him but I hope he is still going to be around for the rest of the tournament. But he’s definitely one we all listen to and we all look up to and you know he might shed a bit of tears tonight inside the changing room, but I appreciate him.”Related

• Injury draws curtains on Dwayne Bravo's CPL career

• Fletcher: 'We were poor, way below poor, as a fielding team'

• 'That was the turning point of the game' – Tahir toasts 100th CPL wicket

• Dwayne Bravo to retire from CPL after 2024 season

• Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph rested for SA T20Is

Russell, who has played 130 matches alongside Bravo, including 74 for West Indies, spoke glowing of the impact Bravo has had on his own career.”I think me being who I am today, Bravo has a lot to do with it,” Russell said. “I used to wicketkeep, then I started bowling and batting at No.10, No.11 and 9. Watching him play in Test cricket for West Indies – bowling good pace, fielding and diving and all those things and then when he comes to bat, he gets the job done.”