Devine cuts loose to power Scorchers before Hurricanes are blown away

Debutant pace bowler Chloe Ainsworth made her mark with a double-wicket opening over

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2023Sophie Devine had an instant impact in her new middle-order role for Perth Scorchers as they secured a crushing opening win over Hobart Hurricanes who were bundled out for 88.Devine, batting at No. 4, hit 87 off 44 balls and dominated stands of 69 with Amy Jones then 65 to Amy Edgar after Scorchers had been 52 for 3 in the eight over.Related

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Having previously opened for Scorchers, Devine will likely have the middle-order role – something she has done this year for New Zealand – at least until Nat Sciver-Brunt arrives with Lauren Winfield-Hill opening the innings.Shabnim Ismail was the standout bowler although she went wicketless, with 14 dot balls in her four overs and 14 of the runs she conceded coming off her last over.In reply, Hurricanes were blown away. Their batting line-up was without the ill Elyse Villani and injured Nicola Carey meaning a change of plans and order.After Milly Illingworth had impressed with her pace at North Sydney Oval on the opening night it was the chance of another debutant quick, Chloe Ainsworth, to make a mark with a spectacular opening over.She produced a searing inswinging yorker to remove Lizelle Lee then followed that by trapping stand-in captain Heather Graham lbw. By the fifth over, Hurricanes were 19 for 4 and the game was as good as over.Stella Campbell, who has moved to Scorchers from Sydney Sixers, claimed two wickets in an over while Alana King helped herself to three which all involved Mooney behind the stumps.

Hathurusingha, de Mel 'thrash things out' to work together for World Cup

Ashantha de Mel was appointed as team manager and selector-on-tour for the World Cup and had clashed earlier with the coach over selection choices

Madushka Balasuriya02-May-2019Sri Lanka Cricket believes that coach Chandika Hathurusingha and Ashantha de Mel will have no issues working together in the Sri Lankan dressing room, after the pair is said to have “thrashed things out” prior to the latter’s appointment as team manager and selector-on-tour for the World Cup starting at the end of this month. Since de Mel took the reins as chief selector ahead of Sri Lanka’s tour to New Zealand, the pair had clashed over several selection choices – most notably the exclusion of Dinesh Chandimal and Lasith Malinga’s captaincy.

Other decisions taken by SLC’s executive committee

  • Chandima Mapatuna appointed as the logistic manager of the team for the World Cup. Mapatuna, who is also the head of international cricket of SLC, will travel with the team for the World Cup

  • In the wake of recent tragic incidents in the country, SLC will take additional measures to strengthen the security of the team at the World Cup. SLC is working on it in consultation with the Ministry of Sports and the ICC

  • Roy Dias appointed as coach of the ‘A’ team for the upcoming tour of India, in May, while Chaminda Mendis has been appointed as team manager. Mendis will also continue to function as a national selector

  • Avishka Gunawardena appointed coach of the emerging team for the tour of South Africa, in June. Hemantha Wickramaratne appointed team manager and will continue to function as a national selector

  • SLC has decided to donate Rs. 2 million to the Relief Effort Fund set up by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith The Arch Bishop of Colombo, to support the victims of the affected areas and parishes following multiple attacks on Easter Sunday

“Before the appointment we got the both of them together to talk things through,” SLC secretary Mohan de Silva told ESPNcricinfo. “They eventually thrashed things out and now we’re very confident that they’ll work quite well together.”De Mel’s appointment, which was rubber-stamped by SLC at an executive committee meeting on April 30, had been mooted for some time, but speculation had been rife over whether he and Hathurusingha would be able to get along over the course of the six-week tournament.It was a spat with the new selection committee that culminated in Hathurusingha being removed from the role of selector-on-tour in February. And since then Hathurusingha’s job security has only become more tenuous.In March, he was given “a break” during Sri Lanka’s T20I series against South Africa after rumours surfaced of him having fallen out with certain players and staff. The situation was so dire that SLC CEO Ashley de Silva flew over personally to hold crisis talks, following which Hathurusingha returned to the island for further mediation. During this period, there were also reports of SLC seeking legal advice over possible options with regard to prematurely terminating Hathurusingha’s contract which will only run out in 2020.However, following clear-the-air talks with the board, Hathurusingha is understood to have agreed to rein in his methods as a “total dictator”, much of which de Silva believes had manifested during the course of the nine-month SLC power vacuum, when the governing body was run by a sports ministry-appointed competent authority.”We were in two minds whether to discontinue him or not,” de Silva said. “We needed to know if he was amenable to our way of thinking and whether he would change his attitude. Because to be quite honest, he had become a total dictator after we left, and that’s also one of the reasons that the selectors were gunning for him.”But he has now promised to toe the line with the administrators and the selectors, because to be honest his thinking in terms of the national team has been good, although the results haven’t followed unfortunately.”Sri Lanka will begin their World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Cardiff on June 1.

Chief Executive Will Brown to leave Gloucestershire

Brown’s departure comes at a tumultuous time after the county posted £1.19m losses with relocation on the agenda

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2024Gloucestershire have announced that chief executive Will Brown will leave the club this summer, ending his 11-year association with the county.Brown succeeded Tom Richardson in 2013 and oversaw a Royal London Cup win in 2015 and promotion to Division One. Bristol’s County Ground has also become a regular host of international men’s and women’s cricket thanks to redevelopments that included the installation of floodlights a decade ago. He also pushed the club to become more environmentally sustainable while establishing itself as a leader in cricket for its community work.His departure comes at a challenging time with the county uncertain of its future. Last month, Gloucestershire reported a loss of £1.19 million in its annual accounts, more than twice the shortfall of £570,000 from the previous period in 2022/23.The cost of living crisis, day-to-day running costs, and a washed-out ODI at Bristol between England and Ireland in September 2023 were blamed for the current situation. Given the club’s non-Test and Hundred hosting status, those internationals usually provide a much-needed windfall for the counties. An independent audit by chartered accountants, Saffery LLP, revealed net liabilities of £5,019,000, leaving Gloucestershire in breach of its banking covenants and casting “significant doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern”.The club’s dire financial situation has led it to explore selling its historic ground at Nevill Road. Purchased with the assistance of WG Grace in 1889, it is estimated to be worth between £25 and £40 million now. Gloucestershire have already identified a site to build a new venue, north of Bristol near the M4.At the end of April, Gloucestershire members voted out David Jones as chair, while acting chair Steve Nelson and honorary treasurer Rebecca Watkin will also leave at the end of the season. Last week, Arron Banks, co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign, declared his interest in taking over the club in an open letter to members. In a statement released on Wednesday, Brown stated his decision to move on was made earlier this year.”I have absolutely loved my time at Gloucestershire Cricket and it has been one of the greatest honours of my life to serve the club I have supported my whole life.”The decision to leave is not one I have taken lightly and it has taken me months of agonising to reach this point. This decision is one I made much earlier in the year and is a personal one based on what I believe the club needs and my own future, especially in light of my bike accident of last year.”I leave in the knowledge that we have a fantastic group of players, coaches, staff and volunteers who are completely dedicated to the Club and its future.””In the last few months we have re-structured our coaching and finance departments, acquired financial support for the future of the Club, secured Men’s and Women’s International cricket all the way through to 2031 and are making progress in our exploration of a move from the Nevil Road site.”Over the next few months up until my departure we will also secure additional investment into Women & Girls cricket locally, confirm our new County Partnership Agreement (CPA) with the ECB, bid for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026 and work with the ECB on the future of the Hundred and Gloucestershire’s role within in it.”Commenting on Brown’s departure, acting chair Steve Nelson said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Will over the last five years and we are very grateful for all he has done at Nevil Road. His tenure has seen a step change in hosting international cricket and this will very much be his legacy to the club.”He has always been a very positive leader, a skill that came to the fore when faced with the difficult challenges of running the club throughout the pandemic. This needed him to be truly resilient, taking others with him, and he rose to the challenge in these difficult times. He has also worked tirelessly on ensuring the club builds its reputation for environmental sustainability and community work which will be key building blocks for the future success of the club.”All of us at Gloucestershire wish him the very best in whatever challenge he takes on next and he will be missed!””Gloucestershire County Cricket Club board are already working on plans for the leadership of the club in in the short and long term, including recruiting a new CEO. Members will be kept informed as these plans develop over the coming weeks.”

Hundred delay a knock for women's game – Katie Levick

‘You wouldn’t cheer if an ASDA shut down and people lost their jobs,’ Yorkshire leg-spinner says

Valkerie Baynes03-May-2020For Katie Levick, the Women’s Hundred represents a chance to prove what might have been.Having turned her back on a potential international career for financial reasons when she was 21, Yorkshire leg-spinner Levick was among the first domestic players chosen for a Northern Superchargers squad captained by England’s Lauren Winfield and featuring Australian star Alyssa Healy.But the now 28-year-old Levick is among those who stand to be hardest hit by the postponement of the inaugural Hundred season to 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. With no central contract to fall back on, her ability to earn some money playing the sport she loves has been put on hold for a year, after which she hopes to be injury-free and that “the team still wants me”.Negotiations are continuing over the make-up of squads for next year and it was against a backdrop of uncertainty that Levick was stunned by the reaction on social media to the ECB’s announcement last week that the competition launch would be delayed. Suggestions that some people would not be sorry to see the competition postponed or even scrapped prompted Levick to post a plea for sensitivity on Twitter.”Just seeing the sea of negativity against the competition and how people were so happy, I thought, can you just take a step back and have a bit of perspective? This actually affects people and it affects their jobs,” Levick told ESPNcricinfo. “You wouldn’t cheer if an ASDA shut down and people lost their jobs, so this is no different essentially.” Levick is quick to point out that, given the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak, putting the Hundred back a year is “insignificant really in the grand scheme of things”. She does feel, however, that the women’s game will be affected more heavily than the men’s, given the limited opportunities for women not centrally contracted by the ECB to make money from cricket and the tournament’s potential to attract girls to the sport.Former England spinner Alex Hartley, who lost her central contract last year told BBC Sport: “I am missing out on a significant amount of money that I was relying on to support myself … you might see me stacking toilet roll in Tesco by the end of the summer if no cricket is played because I will have no job.”Levick, the all-time leading wicket-taker in the Women’s County Championship, considers herself fortunate in that she has a full-time job as marketing manager for Yorkshire County Cricket Club’ s coaching company, Pro Coach Yorkshire. Nevertheless, she had dared to dream about the financial and sporting opportunities the Hundred presented this year.”You don’t know what people’s circumstances are going to be next year, I could get injured before the next tournament, and then that’s probably my career over,” she said. “If people do get a job opportunity it means, ‘right, I can’t take it on next year’.”It was more money than I’d ever earned for cricket. I bought my first home at the end of last year, so knowing that then I signed my contract for the Hundred, you had plans, that money was going to be able to help me do up my house and maybe have a holiday once in my life.”So as daft as it sounds that you never had the money, you do make plans for it because of course you do, you’re only human and it does help you keep going.”ALSO READ: Where now for the Hundred following ECB postponement?Levick has been here before, in a way. Having trained for 12 months with the England Academy, she had to make the decision upon finishing university to pursue a career off the field. With central contracts still two years away, she simply could not afford to wait on the off chance she may eventually become one of the chosen few to make a living from playing.”I’m coming towards the end of my career and the Super League has just been the best experience I’ve had in cricket because you got the opportunity to play against the internationals and play on a bit of a stage where we were getting televised games and a bit more promotion,” Levick said.”With the Hundred we were going to be aligned with the men, so that’s a whole other level of publicity we were going to get and some of the stadiums we were due to play at, and the free-to-air TV games, that was going to take the game to another level and put us on a platform that we hadn’t been on before.”I’ve used the Super League and hopefully the Hundred as a way to prove that I could have done it at the next level and prove it against the top players.”Katie Levick training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in 2012•Getty Images

Levick believes some opposition to the Hundred stems from the fact it moves away from a county model to a regional one, but she struggles to understand the reasoning.”People are so purist at counties, you know, live and die by your county,” Levick said. “I just found it weird that as a sports fan, you’re putting so much onus on the team names and where the teams are located. Can’t you support a player? I might not be wearing a Yorkshire badge but I’m still very much from Yorkshire.”If you watch a football team, I reckon 90 percent of my hometown football team aren’t from Sheffield but I still support that team. I think it’s just trying to look at it from a different perspective and just take off your county goggles maybe and enjoy the spectacle.”

Kate Cross poised to unleash frustration of a quiet English summer

Senior seamer has played just three times for her country this season as youngsters emerge

Valkerie Baynes17-Sep-2022Kate Cross is poised to unleash the frustration of a quiet English summer when her side opens their ODI series with India at Hove on Sunday.The match will be Cross’s first in an England shirt for two months, the seamer who turns 31 next month having played for her country just three times this summer.She took 4 for 63 and 2 for 56 in the drawn Test against South Africa which kicked off the home international season and went wicketless in two ODIs against the same opposition.”You just want to play as much cricket as you can, and I feel like I’ve probably been a bit light on cricket this summer,” Cross said. “I’ve played three games for England, which feels really – compared to last year especially – like not a lot of cricket.”You do all the training so you can go out there and enjoy those moments as a team. I’ve had one of the best seats in the house to watch that T20 series and see the youngsters go out and do their thing, so I just can’t wait to get out there.”Related

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Cross was part of England’s T20I squad for South Africa’s tour, the Commonwealth Games and the recently completed series with India, which the hosts won 2-1, but did not play a game.During that time, she has witnessed close-up the emergence of a new generation, including seam bowlers Issy Wong, Lauren Bell and Freya Kemp, as well as allrounder Alice Capsey.Kemp and Capsey have been particularly impressive with the bat also and are set to make their ODI debuts during the three-match series with India, while Wong and Bell are looking to expand their experience in the format having played two ODIs each against South Africa.”It’s always frustrating when you’re in a squad and not playing,” said Cross, who is the senior seamer in England’s squad with veteran Katherine Brunt resting. “But I think from my point of view, there’s a bit of experience that I can bring to the group even when I’m not playing.”That’s been something that I’ve tried to do with this team as we’ve obviously not got Nat [Sciver] or Katherine around, so as a senior bowler it’s nice to have a bit more responsibility and some youngsters listening to what you’re saying.”They’ve been so impressive. They’ve just had no fear when they’ve come out to play for England, which is everything that we want moving forward. It’s what we’re trying to achieve as a team. It’s a type of cricket that means that you can’t fail and they’ve just come in and done exactly that.”All of which augers well for England’s future, but doesn’t make it easier for Cross to break her playing drought, although she was keen to highlight that as a positive for the home side also.”The only thing I can go off is my past record in ODI cricket and I’d like to think that that would stand me in good stead,” Cross said. “Flipping that, it’s really exciting, that we’ve got competition for places now.”If you looked at this squad a couple of years ago and it didn’t have Nat and Katherine in it, I think a lot of people would have panicked, but it’s just so fantastic that youngsters are coming through and they’re taking their opportunities.”No one can rest easy when you’ve got the likes of an Issy Wong or a Lauren Bell behind you so I think it’s really good and it keeps selection juicy, I guess, because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”Cross was a standout performer in the ODIs last time India toured England, a year ago, her 5 for 34 in Taunton earning her Player-of-the-Match honours and helping the hosts to a five-wicket victory and 2-0 series lead before India won the final game in Worcester for a 2-1 series scoreline.After Hove, this series moves to Canterbury on Wednesday followed by the finale at Lord’s next Saturday. The last time these sides met at the home of cricket was in the 2017 World Cup final, which England won in a nine-run thriller.That match carries bittersweet memories for Cross. Along with Amy Jones – now acting captain in place of Heather Knight (hip injury) and Sciver (mental health break) – and Tash Farrant, she was one of three centrally contracted England players left out of the 15-strong squad for that World Cup.”When the fixture list came out at the start of the summer, it was the first thing that I noticed,” Cross said. “It’s such a huge occasion for us to be able to play at a ground like Lord’s. There’s so much history there and the last time that we played there as a team was in 2017 so there’s some really special memories there against India as well.”It’s funny because a lot of the young girls have been playing at Lord’s in the Hundred and it’s nothing too big for them. Whereas for some of the older girls who have not actually had that much opportunity to play there – I’ve only played one game there and it was for the MCC, so I’ve never played internationally there or in the Hundred – so it just always feels like a special occasion when you get to be at Lord’s.”

New FTP could usher in Big Four era

India will play more than half their cricket against Australia, England and South Africa between the World Cups of 2019 and 2023, if the proposed FTP is ratified

Sidharth Monga11-Dec-20171:17

New FTP could usher in big Four era

India will play more than half their cricket against Australia, England and South Africa between the World Cups of 2019 and 2023 if the proposed Future Tours Programme (FTP) – agreed to in principle by the BCCI at its special general meeting (SGM) on Monday – is ratified and signed. They will play fewer Tests and more T20Is, play more of their cricket at home, and will prefer to restrict their southern-hemisphere tours to the new year.The FTP includes no matches against Pakistan outside ICC events, a state of affairs the PCB has challenged. The total workload of the players will reduce, too: according to the BCCI, India will have played 390 days of international cricket plus ICC tournaments in the four-year cycle that ends in 2019, but will only have about 350 match days over the next cycle, including two home ICC events.The SGM has also mandated the office bearers – acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry – to nominate a working group that will deal with all the details and intricacies of the FTP, including the Members’ Participation Agreement (MPA). ESPNcricinfo understands the working group will be formed from among the general body. By doing so, the BCCI wishes to retain some control and leverage when it comes to playing arrangements. In the past, India’s participation has been used by the board as a negotiation tool at times, and a diplomacy device at others. While there had been a broad FTP in the past too, each tour needed a final stamp of approval from the participating teams. It is understood the body was not in favour of losing that power.A final approval on the working group will need to be given by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA). The CoA had already given its nod to the broad FTP, prepared by the BCCI operations team led by its CEO Rahul Johri. Representatives from all boards and the ICC met in Singapore on December 7 and 8 to flesh out the FTP.In particular, the operations team has tried to eliminate the imbalance typical of India’s FTPs. They didn’t want a repeat of the 2016-17 home season in which India played 13 Tests, nor did they want another season like 2017-18 in which the only three home Tests they played came against Sri Lanka. The new FTP seeks to eliminate the home-away imbalance: most of India’s cricket since their last overseas cycle has come at home, and almost all of the important cricket they play next year will be overseas.At the press conference, Choudhary and Johri said they were pleased with the proposed FTP. Choudhary said India’s home matches would go up from 51 to 81, which is about a 60% increase, but also said the match days would only increase by 20% – a clear indication of the reduction of Test cricket. India’s tours, as is obvious from the increase in home cricket and reduction in overall playing days, will be fewer and staggered to meet the team management’s demands of not spending long periods away from home.The new FTP will look to some as a continuation of the infamous Big Three, with the addition of South Africa to a lesser degree, but that, according to those present at the meeting, was also a demand of the broadcasters. It has become difficult to market Test cricket that doesn’t involve the four main Test-playing nations. Asked if this was a sign of things to come, if Test cricket was going to be played extensively only among the top four nations, Choudhary said: “Well you can say so. You can say so. But then time is not constant. There will be changes. These are things that will keep happening, and we will have to continue dealing with them.”India’s engagement with other Test teams is likely to be capped to two matches per series, which is the minimum requirement of the ICC Test Championship. If anything, this only formalises what has been apparent for a while. In the cycle between the World Cups of 2011 and 2015, 80 of India’s 166 international matches were against Australia, England and South Africa.Another contest that did not enjoy patronage from the broadcasters was the Champions League T20. It has long been discontinued, but the BCCI has retained the three-week window in September originally meant for the Champions League, which means another T20-related event cannot be ruled out.About securing a fixed home season, Choudahry said: “Traditionally speaking our season begins in October and goes on till March. While we were negotiating and preparing for the FTP conferences, we made certain assumptions. One of them was that it was a long season so let’s qualitatively assign them into two parts.”We decided October, November and December are our primary season. And January, February and March are our secondary season. The reasons mostly being the fact that you will attract more home crowd and there will be more certainty of matches in the first three months than the next three. The next three months, half of India will have other difficulties.”We have tried to make sure that our home matches fall in our primary home season firstly, and otherwise secondary. We know that the seasons of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand will clash with ours, and we will tour them but will prefer to do so in January, February and March.”

Injured Usman Khawaja in doubt for India Test series

Scans have confirmed that the batsman has suffered a meniscal tear in his left knee and could require surgery

Daniel Brettig in Abu Dhabi18-Oct-2018Australia’s No. 1 available batsman Usman Khawaja may be out of action for up to eight weeks, placing his availability for the home Test series against India in doubt, after he suffered a meniscal tear to his left knee that is likely to require surgery.After twisting his left knee in warm-ups before day three of the Abu Dhabi Test against Pakistan, there were concerns that Khawaja had reinjured the anterior cruciate ligament that was reconstructed in 2014.While overnight scans cleared Khawaja’s ACL, the meniscal tear that was located will require a recovery time of anywhere from three to eight weeks, which is also dependent on whether surgery is required. Khawaja will consult a knee surgeon on his return home from the UAE. Already missing Steven Smith and David Warner due to suspension until April next year, the national team could ill-afford to lose Khawaja for any length of time, as their only remaining proven quantity as a Test batsman.It remains uncertain whether Khawaja will bat in Australia’s fourth innings of the Test, with his levels of knee function and pain to be monitored across the day. He did not take the field at all on day three after suffering the injury.Following a seemingly innocuous incident in a fielding drill, he hobbled off the field for assessment and treatment, where he would remain throughout Pakistan’s second innings. Initially it was thought Khawaja would only be off the field for a handful of overs, but ultimately he was absent all day, which meant he was ruled out of batting until No. 7 in the batting line-up, or until Australia had occupied the crease for the equivalent amount of time that he was missing from the field.The seam bowler Peter Siddle said many of the squad were unaware that Khawaja had hurt his knee until they saw him unable to join them for the start of play. “Nah we didn’t see it, some of the guys might’ve but I didn’t, he hasn’t really said too much,” Siddle said. “Disappointing for him but he’s getting a scan later tonight and they’ll send it to the people who need to have a look at it in the next day or so and we’ll find out more. At this stage that’s all we know. Just fingers crossed for him, hopefully it comes back positive for him and he can get back out there.”It was just something in warm-up, we were throwing the ball. So that’s about all I know, I don’t know what specifically happened, but something so small it’s kept him out. So disappointing for him but fingers crossed he gets some good news tonight. Initially [he was] very flat, as anyone would know, knowing that he can’t get out there with the boys and help out.”But I think throughout the day he was up and about, moving around, helping us when we came in and trying to help us in the rooms. He’s a positive guy, so fingers crossed for him and we get some good news tonight or tomorrow. Tonight once he’s got the scan and we know more that’ll determine from the doctor’s point of view what he can and can’t do. That’s the big thing at the end of the day and just looking after his welfare. We’ll see how that comes up tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”In the wake of Khawaja’s career-defining double of 85 and 141 to save Australia’s blushes in Dubai, the gulf left when he cannot make runs was demonstrated when his early dismissal on the first evening here led to an inadequate first-innings tally of 145 that effectively surrendered any chance of victory in the match to Pakistan.After Sarfraz Ahmed’s team went on to set Australia a distant 538 to win in more than two days, the team coached by Justin Langer was left with a minimum of 192 overs to survive, with Khawaja’s role in proceedings severely restricted. His was the second injury problem for the Australians in this match, after Mitchell Starc complained of hamstring tightness at the start of Pakistan’s second innings having sustained a heavy workload in Dubai.The effect on Starc’s ability to cover the ground was confirmed by his placement at slip for much of the innings, while he was restricted to bowling a mere seven overs across two spells – four overs with the first new ball, three with the second. Siddle, so effective in the Big Bash League for the tournament-winning Adelaide Strikers last season, will be kept in the Twenty20 squad as cover.After Dubai, amid the reverie of Australia’s successful rearguard, Langer had commented on the physical and mental toll of Test matches, particularly those played in the UAE desert, where temperatures have routinely hovered near 40C with considerable humidity.”I said to Travis Head actually when he missed out on the T20 side,” Langer said. “At the end of this second Test you’ll be coming and giving me a hug. “And Finchy said it to me today as well because Test cricket is so tiring. Physically and mentally, it’s so draining. But that’s all part of the back-to-back Test matches, especially with our young guys. We were going to have to recharge the batteries as well as we can and then have another crack at it. They’re all important Test matches.”The other batsman expected to shoulder more responsibility while Smith and Warner are banned was Shaun Marsh, but a perfectly-pitched ball from Mir Hamza on the third evening completed a wretched series for the 35-year-old, tallying just 14 runs at 3.5 in four innings. Remarkably this is not Marsh’s poorest series in Tests, after he managed just 17 at 2.83 against India in 2011-12. That run of outs was followed by an extended absence from the team, lasting until the 2014 tour of South Africa.October 19, GMT 0530 The story was updated to include the findings of the scan on Khawaja’s knee.

Colin Munro joins Notts Outlaws for 2023 Blast

NZ batter heads back to Trent Bridge after helping Rockets to Hundred title last year

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2023Colin Munro has signed for Notts Outlaws as an overseas player for the 2023 Vitality Blast.Munro, the 35-year-old left-handed top-order batter from New Zealand, was part of the Trent Rockets team which won the men’s Hundred title in 2022.He has three centuries from 62 T20I innings with a career strike-rate of 156.44, and has represented New Zealand on 123 occasions across all formats. Munro is also the 12th-highest run-scorer in T20 history, having scored 9,195 runs.”I’ve witnessed first-hand how much the crowd get behind the team with the Rockets last summer and when I’ve been fortunate, or unfortunate, to come up against the Outlaws at home,” Munro said. “I’m joining a team which plays an aggressive brand of cricket which suits my style and how I like to go about scoring runs. I want to come in and add my experience to what is already a well-oiled machine.”Related

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Munro scored 206 runs in nine matches for Trent Rockets last season at an average of 41.2 and strike rate of 168.85. In addition to The Hundred and previous stints in county cricket with Hampshire and Worcestershire, Durban-born Munro has IPL, PSL, Big Bash and CPL experience, with titles in the latter two tournaments and a total of 365 short-format appearances around the world.Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire’s head coach, described Munro as “a quality player”.”We’ve spoken a lot about Dan [Christian] and what he brought to us; experience, quality and a positive and dynamic style of play,” Moores said. “I see Colin in the same bracket. He’s got his game sorted, he’s played T20 cricket all around the world and he will complement the likes of Alex Hales at the top of the order.”We’re conscious of the fact that Ben [Duckett] has done really well for England and there’s more than a fair chance that we’ll miss him for parts of the summer. That’s one of the reasons we wanted to bring Colin in, to make sure we have that wealth of experience to call upon.”Christian, who won the Blast with Notts Outlaws in 2017 and 2020 as part of a glittering global T20 career, recently announced that he would retire from cricket at the end of Sydney Sixers’ current BBL campaign. Duckett, meanwhile, returned to the reckoning with England’s Test and T20 sides late last year.

SLC to launch its own T10 league in June 2023

The tournament titled Lanka T10 League will be played over 12 days in June 2023

Madushka Balasuriya21-Nov-2022Sri Lanka Cricket has pencilled in June 2023 for the launch of its inaugural T10 league. Titled the Lanka T10 League, the tournament will also host both a men’s and women’s tournament in the same slot first – meaning matches would take place “concurrently,” potentially on alternating days, though SLC is yet to iron out the details.Related

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SLC also announced that six men’s teams and four women’s teams will take part, with each to be named after a Sri Lankan city – similar to those in the Lanka Premier League.While the precise dates and venues are yet to be finalised, it is expected that venues in Kandy and Hambantota will likely host the matches, while SLC anticipates substantial player registrations – over 1600, which was the number for the most recent Abu Dhabi T10 League – for the yet to be announced player draft.Each team will be allowed a 16-member squad, in which there can be a maximum of six foreign players.The tournament will be held over 12 days in June next year. However, going forward it is understood that SLC will look to hold it in December, with the LPL set for the August window.”Next year also we will have the LPL in December, but going forward we have reserved a window in August for that,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said. “So for next year, we will have the Lanka T10 in June and the LPL in December, but from 2024 onwards, the T10 tournament will move to December and the LPL to August.”Sri Lanka has long been a proponent of T10 cricket, with it being the first Full Member to sanction and endorse its players to participate in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. Since then, the cricket boards in the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have followed suit.

Shubman Gill nears his ton as Glamorgan make good progress on rain-hit day

Fresh off a triple-century, David Lloyd passes fifty for sixth time this season in promotion push

ECB Reporters Network26-Sep-2022Glamorgan made good progress on a rain-ruined first day against Sussex in their push for promotion from Division Two of the LV= County Championship.Eight points behind second-placed Middlesex at start of play and needing a win to give them a chance of finishing in the top two, they progressed at more than five runs an over in the 41.2 overs possible at the 1st Central County Ground, reaching 221 for 3.Indian batter Shubman Gill led the way with an unbeaten 91 off just 102 balls while skipper David Lloyd, fresh from his triple hundred against Derbyshire last week, scored 56 against an anodyne Sussex attack.Skipper Lloyd bucked the recent trend at Hove by batting first when play began an hour late because of morning rain. His decision was quickly justified as Glamorgan made serene progress on a flat pitch.Brad Currie was the pick of the Sussex attack and took two wickets but the home side, who haven’t bowled an opposition out twice all season, struggled to back him up.Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashfraf, who is playing the final game of a three-match trial before Sussex decide whether to sign him for 2023, was withdrawn after bowling three wayward overs for 21 runs with the new ball.At the Cromwell Road end Currie was much more effective and he broke through in his fifth over when Eddie Byrom was surprised by a ball that left him off the pitch which he edged to wicketkeeper Charlie Tear for 21.Gill and Lloyd put on 57 in 12 overs between further stoppages either side of lunch with few alarms with Lloyd, who scored an unbeaten 313 in his last Championship innings, passing fifty for the sixth time this season. It was a surprise when left-armer Sean Hunt went round the wicket and thudded the ball low into his pads as the batter played half-forward. Lloyd’s 56 came off 64 balls with six fours and two sixes.Sam Northeast became Currie’s second victim when he edged an outswinger which Tom Alsop caught low at first slip with the total 151 in only the 27th over.Even with the floodlights on, Gill and Billy Root had little trouble in adding a further 70 runs in 15 overs before the players came off again 20 minutes after tea because of bad light. Gill, strong on the front foot and dismissive of anything short, has so far hit two sixes, including an effortless pick-up over mid-wicket off Currie that was the shot of the day, and 11 fours. Root is unbeaten on 17.Umpires Paul Baldwin and Tom Lungley held two further inspections before calling play off at 5.15pm but Glamorgan will feel it has been a productive day.

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