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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.”

Maxwell says he won’t change anything after scoring his fourth international century in his last nine innings across two formats

Alex Malcolm11-Feb-2024Glenn Maxwell says he’s trying to ride his career-best form for as long as he can after scoring his fourth international century in nine games, and equalling the record for the most T20I hundreds with a dazzling 120 not out from 55 balls against West Indies in Adelaide on Sunday.Maxwell struck eight sixes and 12 fours in yet another astonishing display of white-ball batting to help set up Australia’s highest T20I score on home soil of 241 for 4, which was enough for the home side to secure a win and series victory over West Indies.In his last nine international innings dating back to the ODI World Cup, Maxwell has scores of 106, 41, 201 not out, 1, 2 not out, 12, 104 not out, 10 and 120 not out. His last two centuries have come in T20Is. He now has five in the format, equalling Rohit Sharma’s record, and he has been not out in all five with Australia winning every game.”I feel really comfortable in this format,” Maxwell told Fox Sports at the post-match presentation. “I think over the last probably 18 months I’ve felt really good about my batting and really good about my game. I feel clear when I’m out in the middle. The game can sometimes feel nice and simple when you’re out there and at other times you nick a couple of early and all of a sudden becomes really difficult. So I think while I’m going well I’m just trying to ride that as much as I possibly can and keep doing the same things.”Related

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Maxwell admitted that he got frustrated early in his innings on Sunday. He was 4 off 6 at one stage having yelled loudly at himself several times after finding fielders with well-struck shots.”I probably just didn’t hit the gaps as well as I would have liked straight away from the outset,” Maxwell said.”I probably expected too much of myself early on. But once I sort of calmed down, I hit a few gaps and gave myself a decent platform. We knew we were going to cash in the back 10 [overs] with a couple of wickets in hand, so it worked out really nicely.”Maxwell got his innings going with a huge slog sweep off Akeal Hosein and then took flight from there. He hit some extraordinary shots including a switch hit off Hosein into the second tier at cover-point. But he said the first blow was the one that proved he was switched on.”I made a good decision against Akeal when he bowled an inswinger,” Maxwell said. “I slog swept that one and I just felt like I was really clear in that moment, as soon as he bowls that swinger, to go to that shot, it just shows that I was watching the ball really hard. I was proud of that and I was able to, sort of, ride through the waves of the innings a little bit. You’re not going to hit everything out of the middle, you’re not going to hit everything for six but to go through the waves and mistime a couple, I was able to lock back in and stay pretty clear.”Maxwell’s score of 120 was the second-highest by a batter coming in at No.4 or below in T20Is. Four of his five T20I centuries have come at No.4, which is a position he loves batting in.”It’s been a nice position for a long period of time but it’s a difficult position as well,” Maxwell said. “I think that’s why I enjoy it so much. There’s so many different scenarios you can come into and you’ve got to think your way through it and change the momentum of the game. I love it.”

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.

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

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

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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.”

Opener’s unbeaten 118 shows benefit of winter technical work

Paul Edwards05-May-2022
Dominic Sibley will never be a gainly cricketer but he might become an exceptionally effective one once more. Those Warwickshire and England supporters who watched Sibley struggle dreadfully when playing Test cricket last summer would be heartened by such a renaissance and they may be further encouraged when he finally talks about the work he did over the winter.The evidence of that labour – apparently Sibley was often in the Edgbaston nets at eight in the morning – was plain during this marvellously well-contested day at Emirates Old Trafford. When it ended, in glorious May sunlight, the opener had 118 runs against his name. He had batted through the three sessions and had faced 278 balls, 15 of which he had hit for four. So much, so statistical. But the true merit of his innings was plain not in its figures – he has made centuries before, some of them big ones, two of them in Test matches – but in the manner the runs were made.It is, of course, absurd to say Sibley should now be recalled to the England side. Yet innings like this revealed an improved technique and underlying that, the sort of humble, illusionless approach any sportsman needs if he is to recover from the setbacks that will certainly be part of his career. The late wickets taken by Lancashire with the new ball may have given their side the slightest of edges but there is little doubt whose contribution will attract the most notice when this game is reported on the media’s many platforms. Sibley’s “journey”, to borrow the current buzz-word, might be one from which other young cricketers can learn and perhaps it began, ironically, with opting not to play for an England team.When selected for the England Lions squad last autumn it would have been easy for Sibley to go to Australia in the hope of picking up a big hundred and somehow getting straight back in the Test team. Instead, he clearly recognised that such an approach would do little for his technical shortcomings and he opted to spend his winter mornings with Tony Frost and the other Warwickshire coaches in the Edgbaston nets, working on his balance and rebuilding a game that had come close to disintegration in two Tests against India’s pace attack.As a result, Sibley’s batting is no longer an unlucky bag of technical problems. He does not fall across the line of the ball; his hands are less likely to grope out towards the off side; his attacking strokes to leg in front of square have become controlled clips rather than wild shovels. He is also playing much straighter, with his head over the ball; a fine straight drive off George Balderson was a perfect example off this modification. In short he no longer topples over like a hat-stand in a stiff breeze. His batting is characterised by commitment without compulsion.There were sins amid all this righteousness; Sibley’s 380-minute innings was chanceless but by no means faultless. Yet one only needed to recall his fraught cricket last year to realise how much has now changed. And one had to see the struggles some of his partners endured to understand the merit of his innings.The first wicket to fall was that of Alex Davies, whose departure from Lancashire last July came as a surprise to most people at Emirates Old Trafford, maybe even, in a sense, to Davies himself. However, the opener experienced a more predictable leave-taking in the third over of the day’s play when he shouldered arms to a ball from Tom Bailey and lost his off stump. Davies had already been flummoxed twice by his former colleague so one can hardly say his dismissal for an eight-ball eight-minute nought was much of a shock.Sibley’s difficulties, though, have never been of the temperamental variety and throughout the rest of the day he bore the departures of his partners with a phlegmatic shrug. Nearly an hour after Davies’ dismissal, Rob Yates was bowled for 15 by a fine outswinger from Luke Wood that curved back from a middle-stump line and knocked out the off stick. The stump had barely stopped moving before Sibley had turned to the dressing room and indicated he needed new gloves. It would be wrong to interpret this as indifference to reverses; rather it revealed a determination to prepare for a new stage in his side’s innings. The over after Yates was dismissed Sibley cover- and straight-drove Balderson for fours. It was hard to recall him playing the second of those strokes with comparable assurance a year ago.Lancashire, though, are a flinty bunch of cricketers and they allowed Warwickshire few liberties in the afternoon session. Sam Hain batted very competently for his 38 runs but then turned a legspinner from Matt Parkinson into a full toss and drove it to straight to short extra-cover where Rob Jones, the substitute fielder, took the catch above his head. Will Rhodes, who seems out of sorts at present, went back to a legspinner from Parkinson when he should have gone forward and was bowled for 16.Warwickshire came into tea on 169 for 4 and by then it was clear that the nature of the day, although not its balance, might be defined by whether or not Sibley, who was on 76, completed one of the most important centuries of his career. That matter was resolved relatively swiftly. A glanced four off Bailey and a cut off Wood took him nearer the nineties and two fours off Parkinson eased nerves. A single off Balderson brought up the landmark but Sibley acknowledged the matter in the most low-key fashion. He probably knows there is so much more to do in this match, this season and his career. Others can kiss badges if they wish.Lancashire, though, struck the day’s final important blows. Bailey, who seems never to bowl badly, had both Chris Benjamin and Michael Burgess leg before wicket, the former for a fine 47, and Hasan Ali snared Danny Briggs well caught at slip by Keaton Jennings. Sibley watched from the other end and then trudged off. Weather permitting, he will be there again tomorrow. And suddenly, it looks as though there might be a lot of fine tomorrows for him.

England win with 39 balls to spare, reduce Rahul, Pant knocks to the footnotes

Deivarayan Muthu26-Mar-20212:36

Bell on Stokes-Bairstow stand: ‘Some of the best power-hitting you’ll see’

Despite suffering a collapse of 10 for 116 to bungle a chase of 318 in the first ODI, England captain Eoin Morgan insisted that there was no reason for the world champions to veer away from the turbo-charged approach that has served them well. Three days later, Morgan wasn’t available for the second match – he has been ruled out of the third too with a hand injury – but Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow epitomised that approach to help England mow down a bigger target of 337 with almost 40 balls to spare. Jason Roy also did his thing at the top, as England reduced KL Rahul’s more sedate century in the first half to a footnote.Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya had exploded in the end overs for India, but overall they couldn’t match up to England’s sustained aggression. While India hit 34 boundaries in their entire innings, England ticked past that mark in the 34th over of the chase. By then the asking rate had plummeted to less than five an over. India’s left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya bore the brunt of the Stokes-Bairstow assault, conceding 0 for 156 runs between them in 16 overs.Stokes, Bairstow and Jos Buttler all fell in a space of eight balls, but debutant Liam Livingstone and Dawid Malan, who was playing his second ODI, completed England’s drubbing of India to set up a decider on Sunday.It was Roy who made the early running for England, tucking into Prasidh Krishna’s short balls and swatting him for a triptych of pulled fours in the sixth over. Roy followed it with back-to-back fours off Bhuvneshwar Kumar; by the end of the powerplay he claimed 39 of the 59 runs England had scored. He notched up his first half-century of the tour when he hauled a Yadav wrong’un over long-on for six.Bairstow, becalmed in the early exchanges, sailed to his own fifty with a flurry of boundaries. He forged his 13th century partnership with Roy, which is now the most by any English pair. It needed a moment of brilliance from Rohit Sharma in the field to separate the duo. He swooped down to his right from midwicket to capitalise on a mix-up and run Roy out for 55 off 52 balls.Enter Stokes. He was a bit of a non-starter in the first ODI (1 off 11 balls). He had started in skittish fashion in the second, too, padding up to a wrong’un from Yadav, although it wasn’t threatening the stumps. Krunal then drew an outside edge from Stokes, but there wasn’t anyone at slip to snaffle that. All of this was a red herring, with Stokes revving up to smash 84 off a combined 33 balls from Yadav and Krunal, including ten sixes. Only Morgan and stand-in captain Buttler have struck more sixes for England in an ODI innings.After Stokes got to his fifty off 40 balls, he went 6,6,6,1,6,4,2,6,6,2,4, but fell short of a hundred, with Kumar having him caught behind down the leg side. Bairstow, however, had brought up his hundred in the same manner as he had raised his fifty: with a towering six off Yadav.After India were inserted again, Rahul had made a contrasting hundred, collecting 68 of his 108 runs through singles and doubles. He cautiously navigated the spinners and it was only after passing fifty that he hit over the top. Likewise, Virat Kohli accumulated in risk-free fashion after the hosts had dawdled to 41 for the loss of openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in the powerplay. On Tuesday, India had two fewer runs in that period for the loss of no wickets, but such a cagey start hadn’t hurt them then. It did come back to bite them on Friday despite a 28-ball half-century from Pant and a 16-ball 35 from Hardik.Reece Topley, who was playing only his second ODI since 2016, was particularly impressive with the new ball, often landing it on the seam and gleaning substantial movement and bounce off the pitch. After hitting an awkward in-between length against Dhawan, he pushed one across him from a fuller length to have him nicking off for 4 off 17 balls. Rohit, who had got out chasing what might have been an off-wide wide from Stokes in the first match, tickled a leg-stump half-volley from Sam Curran straight to short fine leg in the second.Moeen Ali, who has had a rough winter, put in a decent shift, returning 0 for 47 in his 10 overs. He gave up only one boundary in his spell, but that was down to a fumble from Stokes at extra-cover. As for Adil Rashid, he cut short Kohli’s innings at 66, besting him for the ninth time in international cricket. Rashid could have got him much earlier – when Kohli was on 35 – had Buttler not closed his gloves too early. The keeper’s error allowed Kohli to add 31 to his tally before the subsequent correction brought Pant to the crease. The left-hander closed out Rashid’s spell with a powerful slog-swept six over midwicket.Pant went on a six-hitting spree, but the lack of urgency from the top four and England’s own six-hitting spree meant it was in vain.

Latham will return to scene of international debut nine years ago for Bangladesh opener

Deivarayan Muthu11-Mar-2021Tom Latham used to play rugby with his older brother Matt while growing up and quite naturally his childhood dream was to become an All Black. However, around the time he was picked in New Zealand’s Under-19 side, he fully committed to becoming a Black Cap and next week in Dunedin, Latham will mark his 100th ODI appearance by captaining the team for their series opener against Bangladesh.It was in Dunedin that Latham had also made his ODI debut, against Zimbabwe in 2012, under the captaincy of Brendon McCullum.”Personally, to play my first game down in Dunedin and also my 100th is going to be pretty cool,” Latham said, looking ahead to the landmark. “Great to be able to play one game for New Zealand, but to be able to play 100 is pretty special. My family and wife have come down, so it will be nice to celebrate that down there. Some of the guys in that squad – the likes of Jacob Oram, Natham McCullum, Baz (Brendon McCullum), and a lot of names you look at now and I watched those guys growing up. To play with them and carry on playing is pretty special.Related

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Latham, 19 then, had started off in shaky fashion before making a middle-order cameo in a 90-run victory for New Zealand.”I was pretty nervy – I was on none off six I think, and then managed to get one through the covers and as I ran my spikes went from under me, so I sort of face-planted a little bit,” Latham recalled. “So, some fond memories and we managed to win that series, which was nice. So, fingers crossed, we can play well this series and we can win this series too.”New Zealand’s regular captain Kane Williamson has been sidelined from the Bangladesh ODI series with an elbow injury, and in his absence, Latham said, they won’t tinker too much and will attempt to continue to build on the good work done under Williamson.New Zealand will head into the Bangladesh series on the back of a hard-fought 3-2 T20I triumph over Australia, and though they will be without the injured trio of Williamson, Lockie Ferguson and Colin de Grandhomme, Latham was particularly excited at the additions of Will Young, Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway to the ODI side. All three newcomers have displayed strong form in the domestic competitions across formats.”Obviously, disappointing for Kane to miss out with an elbow injury, but you know for me it’s about continuing what Kane has been doing,” Latham said. “I’ve done a fair amount of it [captaincy] over the last couple of seasons and from a leadership point of view it’s great we’re lucky we have such a good side with so many leaders in the group.”It’s awesome to have new guys in that squad that haven’t played… I guess the best thing about the three guys is they’re coming off form in all different formats throughout the last couple of weeks. So, that’s an exciting thing that these guys have been picked on form and if they get their opportunities and fingers crossed they can take it. It’s always nice when new guys come in and make their debuts.”New Zealand haven’t played ODIs for a year – their last match was behind closed doors last March at the SCG before the tour was aborted due to the Covid-19 pandemic – and they have only had four 50-over matches since the 2019 World Cup final. Latham, though, felt that the 50-over Ford Trophy had tuned them up for the upcoming ODI series.”It’s pretty exciting to have one-day cricket back with the Black Caps,” he said. “Obviously, we haven’t played for a long time as a group together and it’s a small sample of one-day cricket this summer here in New Zealand. So, I’m sure the guys will be ready to go and will be looking forward to getting into it on Saturday.”It’s been a perfect preparation for everyone involved. There are a slight few changes from the T20 squad, but you know [we’ve] been playing the Ford Trophy, which has been great and obviously the guys have come up with some good T20 form against Australia as well.”The Ford Trophy ended last week with Latham cracking Matt Fisher to the right of point with a signature back-foot cut to seal Canterbury’s 15th one-day title and first since 2016-17. The revelry will continue for Latham as he is set to reach a more significant milestone on March 20.

Player contracts, Kolpak status and long-term strategy on the table

Matt Roller30-Apr-20202020 contractsThe Hundred was due to begin on July 17•Getty Images

The contracts players signed after October’s draft were composed of two parts: a player appearance contract and an employment contract. Players have received a small percentage – around 5% – of their overall fee to date, and were due to receive a total of 20% of their fees before the tournament’s planned launch in mid-July.ESPNcricinfo understands that players are yet to be told the final sum they will receive this year, but the fact the competition has been postponed this far in advance will likely reduce it, as that money was due to be paid pro rata based on date.That means that while some of the top earners in the men’s competition could still be paid around £15,000 without playing a game, the ECB will save the majority of the £9 million it was due to pay in player wages this year (£8m to men’s squads, £1m to women’s). A further £1.7 million had been put aside for the salaries of coaches and support staff, the majority of which will be saved.Some players, including Tymal Mills and Harry Gurney, had taken out insurance on their contracts, but are unlikely to receive a full payout since most policies only cover injuries and rely on the tournament being played.The PCA is working collaboratively with the ECB to iron out the details, and conversations will take place on Thursday afternoon between PCA representatives and some senior players involved in the Hundred to discuss the situation.”Those discussions are under way,” Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, told the BBC. “The contracts contemplate situations like this – obviously not the exact situation, but we do have the ability to have those discussions through what is written down in the contracts.”RetentionsDane Vilas was a top-bracket pick in the Hundred draft but may not get to play in the competition•Getty Images

Under the tournament’s existing retention regulations, seen by ESPNcricinfo, each team would be able to retain up to ten players from its 15-man squad, at a salary band negotiated with the player. The most likely solution is for something similar to that system to be used, with a smaller draft taking place at some point this winter.Possible alternatives might include a complete re-draft or an attempt to leave the squads as they are, but neither approach seems likely to work in practice.The first option would render last October’s draft futile, and its legality would be in question given it would seemingly breach the regulations underpinning player contracts.The latter is likely to be impossible due to the fact that several teams have signed Kolpak players in non-overseas slots, and the expectation that the loophole will close when the UK leaves the European Union at the end of the year means they will have to be classified as overseas players in the 2021 edition. For example, Welsh Fire’s squad contains at least four non-overseas players – Colin Ingram, Ravi Rampaul, Simon Harmer and Leus du Plooy – who are unlikely to qualify as ‘locals’ next year.ALSO READ: ECB should seek private capital to prop up Hundred, says reportThat obstacle may yet be avoided if the UK government seeks an extension to the transition period – the deadline for that eventuality is June 30 – but sticking with something similar to the planned model seems to be the most likely solution. While the PCA has publicly backed increasing the number of overseas player permitted in the County Championship and the One-Day Cup from one to two, it has not suggested the same move in the T20 Blast or the Hundred, reasoning that it would reduce the number of opportunities for local players too much.If the planned retention rules are used, teams may be willing to let some of their overseas stars go in the expectation that a different set of players will be available next summer, when the Future Tours Programme (FTP) is currently emptier – although existing gaps in the calendar may well be filled with postponed series.”If we can get other international players who were not available this year to make the Hundred even stronger for next year through a mini draft then we can attract a new audience to come and watch cricket,” Moeen Ali, Birmingham Phoenix’s captain, said on Wednesday.”We have a commitment to deliver the Hundred in the way we set out to deliver it this year,” Harrison said. “We will be having discussions with players who have been selected through the draft – there are decisions to be made about that.”It is understood that some teams have already begun to discuss likely retention strategies, and further conversations among support staff are likely over the coming weeks and months once the picture becomes clearer. Several coaches spoke about wanting to build a squad that would lay the foundations of success over multiple seasons rather than just targeting the 2020 edition at last year’s draft.There will undoubtedly be some players that miss out in the short term. For example, Dane Vilas was signed for £125,000 by Manchester Originals as a local player in October’s draft, but is significantly less likely to secure a contract if he finds himself competing for one against overseas talent. Players like Liam Plunkett (35) and Ryan ten Doeschate (39) might find age counts against them going into 2021, while young domestic players looking at a substantial payday like Tom Abell and Phil Salt (both £100,000 buys for the Originals) will miss out on what represents a life-changing sum of money for this year at least.Perhaps more pressingly, the tournament’s postponement could leave women’s cricketers without a central contract in the lurch. Several players expected to become professional this summer despite not having an England contract, through a combination of one of the 40 available contracts at the new regional hubs, and a Hundred deal. While the ECB’s £20 million investment into the women’s game over the next two years has been ring-fenced, those players face a significant short-term setback.2021 and beyondECB chief executive Tom Harrison•Getty Images

The tournament’s many critics have suggested that this is the perfect time to shelve it for good. The circumstances are not dissimilar to those in which the ‘P20′ competition, initially planned as a rival to the IPL involving teams from overseas, was shelved in 2009, with the global financial crisis and resulting recession meaning launching a new, lucrative competition became unpalatable.But the Hundred is significantly further down the line in terms of planning: it forms a central part of the ECB’s strategy for both the men’s and women’s game, and the ink has dried on sponsorship deals and broadcast contracts. And while the costs of the competition’s first season are substantial (not far short of £60 million) that figure includes the £1.3m payments to each county that will be even more vital to their survival following a year without income.That means that the ECB holds the cards over the tournament’s future and is relatively unlikely to face demands for change. Harrison confirmed in a media release that “the Hundred will go ahead in 2021 when we are safely able to deliver everything we intended to help grow the game” and said that there would be “an even greater need for the Hundred” following the Covid-19 crisis and the financial disruption it has already caused English cricket.This week, a report from advisory firm Oakwell Sports suggested opening the competition up to private investment and moving to a franchise model in order to make significant savings. Although the ECB are unlikely to want to cede control over the teams, Harrison conceded that the current circumstances would require them to be open-minded about investment.Asked by Sky Sports if the postponement represented an opportunity to look at a different business model, Harrison said: “Yes, it does, and maybe coronavirus and the financial impact of coronavirus forces us into a place where we have to look at some of those opportunities. But that is something we will do with the game, and certainly not something that we’ll jump into because we are broadly in a very strong position as a game. And I’m very confident that we can, in partnership with the game, build our way out of this.”Instead, the onus will be on cutting costs where possible. For example, the significant sum allocated to coaches’ wages might be considered a luxury the tournament cannot afford. The same is true of the £5.8 million allocated for ‘event delivery’ and £1.5 million for ‘admin’, while paying men’s players with white-ball central contracts up to £125,000 each seems like a significant expense which could be avoided via an allocation system similar to that used for those on red-ball contracts.

England believe plan could solve scheduling needs and player workloads but recognise it is an ’emotive’ issue

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2019England are “cautiously” backing an ICC proposal to scrap five-day Tests from 2023.The ICC’s cricket committee are expected to formally consider a proposal in 2020 to make four-day Tests mandatory as part of the World Test Championship in a bid to ease pressure in an increasingly crowded international schedule.”We’re definite proponents of the four-day Test concept, but cautiously so, as we understand it’s an emotive topic for players, fans and others who have concerns about challenging the heritage of Test cricket, “an ECB spokesperson said. “We believe it could provide a sustainable solution to the complex scheduling needs and player workloads we face as a global sport.”The world’s cricketers pose the most likely source of opposition to the plan, with many viewing the step up from four-day first-class games to five-day Tests as a critical point of difference at the top end of the long-form game.However, the ICC’s increasing demand for event windows, the proliferation of domestic T20 leagues, the BCCI’s demands for its own sizeable share of bilateral calendar space, and the costs of staging Test series are all factors contributing to the move, which would shave off a significant amount of time from the calendar for the 2023 to 2031 cycle.A reduction in the number of Test matches going to five days has also made administrators open to the idea, with more than 60 percent of matches played since the start of 2018 ending in four days or fewer.”One of our top priorities is to underpin a healthy future for Test cricket while we continue to build accessible ways for new fans to enjoy our sport,” the ECB spokesperson said. “We are strongly behind a thorough and considered consultation where all opinions are explored.”As early as 2015, the ECB and chairmen of the English counties were engaged in discussions about four-day Tests as part of a wide-ranging review into the future of English cricket domestically and internationally.Last week, Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts said mandatory four-day Tests were “something that we have got to seriously consider”.Since 2017, the ICC has permitted certain Tests to be played over four days, but only those outside the World Test Championship, such as England’s match against Ireland in July, which ended inside three days.Matches played over four days would likely see an increase of the minimum overs in a day from 90 to 98, meaning that over four days only 58 scheduled overs would be lost.Australia captain Tim Paine expressed his opposition to the proposal after his side’s 247-run victory over New Zealand in Melbourne.”We might not have got a result if we’d done that in the Ashes, I think every game went to a fifth day,” Paine said. “That’s the point of difference with Test cricket, it is five days, it’s harder mentally, it’s harder physically, and it tests players more than the four-day first-class fixtures do. I think that’s what it’s designed to do, so I hope it stays that way.”Tony Irish, the head of the international players’ body FICA, expressed concern that “they would simply plug in more cricket into the gaps” reducing the benefits of a lighter international schedule.