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Fred Klaassen is only county-contracted player involved in three-match series

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-2022Teja Nidamanuru, an allrounder who has featured for Auckland in the past, and batter Antonius Staal, who has played 14 T20Is but never an ODI, have been included in Netherlands’ squad for their upcoming home ODI series at home against West Indies.

Schedule

Netherlands vs West Indies: May 31, June 2, June 4 – VRA Stadium, Amstelveen

Also named in the squad after serving a ball-tampering ban was Vivian Kingma, while opening batter Musa Ahmed has also made a comeback after missing Netherlands’ last series, against New Zealand.Veteran Stephan Myburgh, who made a 45-ball-64 in his last outing, against New Zealand in Hamilton, is not part of the squad having announced his ODI retirement after that game. Brandon Glover’s was the other name missing from the squad that played the New Zealand ODIs. The quick bowler had gone wicketless in both the games he featured in on that tour.Fred Klaassen, the Kent left-arm seamer, is the only player with a county contract who has been named in the squad.Related

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The three-ODI series will start on May 31, with all matches played in Amstelveen. The matches will be part of the World Cup Super League, where Netherlands are currently placed 13th. Their summer will also involve Super League games against England and Pakistan, at home, in June and August respectively.Squad: Pieter Seelaar (capt), Scott Edwards (wk), Shariz Ahmad, Logan van Beek, Philippe Boissevain, Aryan Dutt, Clayton Floyd, Fred Klaassen, Vivian Kingma, Ryan Klein, Bas de Leede, Musa Nadeem Ahmed, Teja Nidamanuru, Max O’Dowd, Vikram Singh, Antonius Staal

Bairstow, Stokes among players who opted out due to workload in 2022

Matt Roller19-Jan-2023The ECB will make additional funds available to incentivise England’s leading all-format cricketers to take part in the Hundred in 2023, as part of a revamped recruitment system for centrally-contracted men’s players.The Hundred has an exclusive four-week window in England’s men’s international schedule for the first time in 2023, running from August 1-27. It starts immediately after the fifth Ashes Test and ends three days before the first of eleven limited-overs internationals against New Zealand and Ireland, which will serve as preparation for England’s 50-over World Cup defence.While there is an expectation that those involved in the fifth Ashes Test will not immediately return to play in the Hundred, the ECB hope to ensure that all-format players are available for a significant proportion of the competition. Several multi-format players including Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes pulled out of the Hundred altogether in 2022 in order to rest before England’s Test series against South Africa, and the standard suffered as a result.ESPNcricinfo understands that players on all-format central contracts were paid around £50,000 to play three games in 2022, with an additional £5,000 for any further games. In 2023, they will be paid £125,000 to play the full season, or the same fee on a pro rata basis if they make themselves unavailable for a portion of the season.The ECB’s increased investment in the biggest English names mirrors Cricket Australia’s renewed attempts to involve its leading men’s players in the Big Bash League. David Warner made his first appearance for Sydney Thunder since 2013 earlier this month after signing a lucrative deal, the majority of which fell outside of the BBL’s salary cap.The revamped regulations dictate that each team will sign a single ‘all-format’ centrally-contracted player, assuming player and team reach an agreement. The eight players who have that status and the teams who have the option to retain them are: Jofra Archer (Southern Brave), Bairstow (Welsh Fire), Jos Buttler (Manchester Originals), Sam Curran (Oval Invincibles), Joe Root (Trent Rockets), Stokes (Northern Superchargers), Chris Woakes (Birmingham Phoenix) and Mark Wood (London Spirit).Related

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In the unlikely event that two or more teams decide not to retain – or do not reach an agreement with – those players, a mini-draft will be held to determine which player joins which team. England’s other centrally-contracted players, including Moeen Ali, Zak Crawley, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope and Adil Rashid, will be part of the main draft mechanism, and can be retained by their teams if they reach an agreement on a salary for 2023.Intriguingly, Buttler remains on an all-format central contract despite the fact he has not played Test cricket since the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney. Ben Foakes signed his first central contract in October and has impressed in the last year and England are not lacking for attacking middle-order batters, but Buttler’s contract status suggests that his Test career might not be over yet.The Men’s Hundred’s retention window officially opened on January 13 and will close at 11.59pm on February 14. Teams can retain up to 10 players who held a contract with them in 2022, plus a centrally-contracted player.The ECB have also doubled the number of ‘wildcard’ signings from one per team to two, meaning each team will sign two players for £30,000 based on performances in the group stage of the T20 Blast. Overall squad sizes remain unchanged.ESPNcricinfo revealed in November that the ‘overseas wildcard’ spot has been scrapped, meaning teams will have three overseas players in their squad at any one time, rather than four. All three will be available to feature in any given playing XI.Women’s teams have been discussing their ‘marquee’ retentions with players over the last two months, ahead of the inaugural women’s draft in March.

The left-arm spinner pulled up with a stiff back in the second Test and will stay in Colombo to receive treatment. Two players will be added to Sri Lanka’s squad for the third Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Aug-20170:57

Quick facts – Herath, Sri Lanka’s MVP

Rangana Herath will be rested for the third Test at Pallekele after pulling up from the second Test with a stiff back. Two players will be further added to Sri Lanka’s squad to replace Herath and the already-injured Nuwan Pradeep.Though there is no injury to Herath as such, he has had a heavy workload over the past three weeks, in which he bowled 71.1 overs in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, as well as a combined 91 overs in the two Tests against India. Considering his age, and the fact that Sri Lanka will have to play a Test series against Pakistan over the next two months, the selectors have made the decision to leave him out.”This is where our player management comes in, because we don’t want to break anyone,” SLC cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha said. “We made the call not to risk Herath because he’s also bowled close to 200 overs in the three Tests. That’s a lot for his body.” Herath also confirmed he will stay in Colombo and receive treatment, rather than traveling to Kandy with the team.Though he has had a modest series against India so far, Sri Lanka’s attack will nevertheless be significantly weaker in his absence. He was the best of their bowlers at the SSC, taking 4 for 154, and had also taken 11 wickets in the difficult victory against Zimbabwe at Khettarama. Dilruwan Perera will now be the senior spinner, with left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara and left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan also in the squad.Herath is the fourth Sri Lanka player to become unavailable during the India series, after both Asela Gunaratne and Pradeep picked up injuries in the first and second Tests respectively, and Suranga Lakmal was ruled out by a back complaint. Herath is not in the habit of missing Tests, however. The last Sri Lanka match he missed had come more than two years ago – against Pakistan in July 2015 – and that was because he was dropped from the XI. The last Test for which he was unavailable was the 2014 Boxing Day Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, when he was nursing a leg injury, and also attended the birth of his second child.The Pallekele Test is scheduled to begin from August 12. It is, however, a dead rubber, with India having already won the series 2-0.

ESPNcricinfo experts Sanjay Manjrekar and Piyush Chawla suggest “reviewable” lbw calls against CSK an example of below-par umpiring in the IPL

Karthik Krishnaswamy12-May-20222:49

Piyush Chawla on Conway lbw: ‘Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t’

Match 59 of IPL 2022 got off to an unusual start, with a power outage at the Wankhede Stadium leading to the unavailability of the Decision Review System for the first two overs. And it took only two balls for the lack of DRS to make an impact on the game, with Chennai Super Kings opener Devon Conway unable to call for a review after being given out lbw off Mumbai Indians left-arm seamer Daniel Sams.Replays suggested that the ball, angling into the left-hander and nipping in further, would have missed leg stump, but there was no way to re-assess umpire C Ravikanthreddy’s decision.Related

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The next over, from Jasprit Bumrah, brought Mumbai another lbw decision in their favour, with Robin Uthappa playing around a good-length ball that straightened on him. Replays suggested this decision, from Chris Gaffaney, may have been a 50-50 call, with the ball straightening to strike Uthappa’s back pad, which was on the move, roughly in line with off stump. There was no way for Uthappa to call on DRS to examine whether the ball struck him in line with the stumps or not, and whether ball-tracking’s projection would have shown the ball to be hitting off stump or not.At the end of the match, which his team lost by five wickets after being bowled out for 97, Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming was philosophical about being on the wrong end of the no-DRS situation.”It was a little bit unlucky that it happened at that time,” Fleming said. “We were a little disappointed, but that’s still part of the game, isn’t it? It sort of set off a chain of events that were not in our favour, but we should be better that than [being bowled out for 97]. It certainly wasn’t a great start.”ESPNcricinfo experts Piyush Chawla and Sanjay Manjrekar, however, suggested that the decision against Conway was just the latest instance of below-par umpiring in the IPL.”It didn’t look out at first go, because the way the ball moved, at the point of impact, it looked like the ball was still doing a bit, so definitely looked like it was going to miss the leg stump, but DRS was not available,” Chawla said on the analysis show . “We have seen some very ordinary umpiring this season, so that was one of the decisions [of that kind] as well.”Manjrekar felt both decisions had been “reviewable”, and that Super Kings’ inability to use DRS during that two-over window had tilted the game in the favour of Mumbai’s fast bowlers, in conditions where they were already thriving.”We talk about the white ball just moving for 2-3 overs and then suddenly stops moving. That is the talk at the international level. They keep wondering why that happens,” he said. “Today, I saw in the seventh and eighth over, Riley Meredith bowling proper outswingers. It was great to see Bumrah come and bowl two early overs with the new ball, and we saw swing from Bumrah, the outswing to Uthappa, and that was too high-quality for Uthappa to handle.”So ball swinging, good bowling at the top, helped by some glitch in technology because there were two decisions there, Uthappa’s and Conway’s, that I would call reviewable.”The quality of umpiring from the local officials this season, Manjrekar felt, had been particularly concerning.”Because there is now a problem getting all the quality foreign umpires from all over the world here, with the Covid situation and everything, you have to make do with a lot of local umpires,” he said. “The DRS was down for 10 minutes, and disaster happened.”It pains me when those kind of decisions happen. I saw one earlier as well, when a ball that pitched outside leg stump, about four or six inches, and those are given out, so that is [disappointing].”He did add, however, that the same situation could have benefited the team on another day. “It could have been the other way round as well. Some obvious decision would have been given not out, and then Mumbai Indians would not have had the chance to review that.”

Keith Barker has rejected the offer of a new contract at Warwickshire and is set to join Hampshire on a two-year deal

George Dobell25-Sep-2018Keith Barker has rejected the offer of a new contract at Warwickshire and is set to join Hampshire on a two-year deal.Barker, the left-arm allrounder, has claimed 357 first-class wickets at a cost of 25.51 since his debut for the club 2009. He was a crucial part of the Warwickshire attack that won the County Championship in 2012 – he claimed 56 first-class wickets at a cost of 20.82 – and won selection for the England Lions. With the variation he offers and footmarks creating rough for spinners, he has remained a key man in the first-class side.He has also hit six first-class hundreds and averages 28.64 with the bat. It is expected Hampshire will announce his acquisition on Wednesday. Warwickshire are also understood to have offered a two-year deal.Barker was a late entrant to the county game. Having originally pursued a career as a footballer – he represented England Uner-19s and was with Blackburn Rovers for a while – he did not play for Warwickshire until he was 22.He has rarely featured in the limited-overs teams in recent times, however – he did not play a single T20 match this season – and, aged 32 next month, is now likely to finish his career with Hampshire.

“I have played cricket here all my life, I have never seen a wicket like this at SuperSport Park. It’s unheard of that a spinner bowls that amount of overs on the first day. There’s a very subcontinental feel to it,” said South Africa’s fast bowler

Firdose Moonda15-Jan-20182:16

One of the hardest spells I’ve bowled – Morkel

Bowling at SuperSport Park is “100%” similar to bowling in India and “really hard work” for the quicks on a surface that traditionally provides assistance, according to Morne Morkel, whose career began at Centurion. Morkel is the first player to offer something beyond a mere acknowledgment that this surface is not what quite what South Africa wanted and agreed that bowling on it was closer to being in India than at home.”I have played cricket here all my life and I have never seen a wicket like this at SuperSport Park. It was really hard work. With the heat and conditions tough, it was one of the hardest spells I’ve bowled,” Morkel said. “It’s unheard of that a spinner bowls that amount of overs on the first day. We even took the option to open in the over before lunch with a spinner. There’s a very subcontinental feel to it. It’s tough scoring and tough to get people out. Luckily we’ve got some experience of that in the bank. But they are not the conditions that we want here in South Africa.”In temperatures in the mid-30 degrees and high humidity, Morkel delivered 22.1 overs over two days, more than any other quick and reaped the most reward. He shared the new ball with Keshav Maharaj, who was used for one over, and found there was only a short period of time when he could make it move. “You’ve got a small little window with the new ball. I think the first hour in the mornings, the reason might be because it’s under covers overnight, but in the first hour the balls seems a little bit quicker off the deck. But after that, there’s actually been no pace in the wicket,” Morkel said.The lack of significant pace and bounce has meant South Africa have had to come up with more innovative game plans. Faf du Plessis set unusual fields, especially when Maharaj was bowling but the seamers tended to stick to a line outside off stump. Morkel explained that they did not consider bowling straighter because they regard that as playing to India’s strengths.”There’s a very fine line when you bowl to them too straight. They are very good players when you attack the stumps. You can’t really attack middle stump, it’s too straight for them and they can take the game away,” Morkel said. “With the ball keeping low, reverse swing, those are the options we will discuss tomorrow. We’ll work out some different fields. But at first getting the ball outside the eye line with extra bounce and pace is the key for us.”The fifth and sixth-stump line was employed with particular rigour against Virat Kohli, with the intention to trap the Indian captain with the delivery that came into him, as Vernon Philander did at Newlands. This time, it did not work until Kohli had almost single-handedly taken India 28 runs shy of South Africa’s total.”We’ve got a couple of options that we turn to. It’s quite tough when the wicket is so slow. And if you get a batsman of his quality, he’s got time to adjust,” Morkel said. “For us, it’s just to keep him quiet on this sort of surface, and bowl as many dot balls as possible. He came out with a lot of intent yesterday, looking to score and looking to take the game forward. And for us it was just to hit our straps and stop them from scoring too quickly.”Knowing that Kohli will look to take them on again, South Africa will want to make sure they bat themselves into a position of safety before going on the attack, and Morkel thinks they are already almost half way there. “Off the top of my head, I think maybe 250 on Day 5. With the wicket now turning a little bit and keeping a little bit low, I think 250 can be a very good score,” Morkel said.If that proves enough, South Africa won’t care whether they got there in conditions which seemed closer to India or not.

“We’re expecting a slow and low wicket, to test ourselves in tough conditions which will be great preparation for us moving forward.”

Andrew Miller26-Feb-2023Jos Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, believes that the slow, low surfaces that his team are likely to face in their forthcoming ODI and T20I series in Bangladesh will be ideal preparation for this winter’s 50-over World Cup in India.Buttler’s team recently added the T20 World Cup title to the 50-over crown that they won in such memorable fashion at Lord’s in 2019, but their opportunities to finetune the defence of that latter trophy have been impacted by the constraints of the global itinerary.They come into this campaign having played just 33 ODIs since the start of 2020 – by comparison they played 98 between the end of the 2015 World Cup and the final four years later – and have not won a 50-over series in four attempts since beating the Netherlands in June last year. This includes a run of five losses in a row until victory in their most recent outing in South Africa last month.Life is unlikely to get much easier against Bangladesh, a team that hasn’t lost an ODI series on home soil since England themselves beat them on their 2016 tour. Most recently, Bangladesh defeated India 2-1 in December, but Buttler said his side was relishing the chance to test themselves in their last overseas assignment ahead of the World Cup.Related

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“It’ll be a great challenge for us,” Buttler said on arrival in Dhaka. “Obviously Bangladesh are very tough to beat in their home conditions, they beat India as well. So this is exactly the kind of challenge we need, nearing the World Cup, to test ourselves in probably the conditions that we as a side will find the hardest. This can be a great measure of where we are as a team.”We’re expecting a slow and low wicket, which is exactly what we want, to test ourselves in tough conditions which will be great preparation for us moving forward.”With the ongoing Test tour of New Zealand restricting the availability of some of England’s multi-format players, and with a further group of players choosing to honour their T20 franchise commitments rather than join the tour, England will once again be unable to field their first-choice XI.Nevertheless, the tour offers a further opportunity for Jofra Archer to fine-tune his international comeback after a successful return in South Africa. He and Mark Wood, who was rested after the Pakistan Test tour, will offer a 90mph threat which Buttler believes is still a key weapon even if the pitches in Bangladesh are not conducive to pace.”Generally the wicket will be slower, but guys like Jofra and Mark Wood have fantastic airspeed, so someone who can bowl with such pace on these wickets is still a handful. It’s not always to the benefit of the batsman. We have a nice variety in the squad. Right-arm, left-arm, high pace, guys who can swing it … we have a nice balanced attack.The squad has also been reinforced by the addition of Surrey’s Will Jacks, who has flown in after being an unused reserve on the Test tour of New Zealand, and may challenge for a place at the top of the order, in light of Jason Roy’s struggle for form in recent months, especially after impressing in the recent SA20.Another uncapped option is Rehan Ahmed, the 18-year-old legspinner who burst to prominence with his matchwinning role on Test debut in Karachi before Christmas. He may well get a chance in the coming contests, but moreover he will have the opportunity to work closely with England’s veteran legspinner, Adil Rashid, which Buttler believes will be invaluable in his development.”Rehan is a really exciting talent,” he said. “He’s still a very young man, just a teenager, so we’re excited about his development and where we think he can go.”It’s great to have him in and around the England set-up. Adil Rashid has been such a star performer for us for a long, long period of time, so getting to spend time with him and discussing bowling and watching each other bowl will be a huge benefit to him, and the biggest stage in his development.”We’re really excited for someone with so much talent, not just with the ball but with the bat as well. So we look forward to watching him develop and hopefully turning himself into a brilliant international cricketer.”England’s reputation in white-ball cricket has been built on their aggressive batting approach, with Buttler himself leading the way in their most recent world-record total of 498 against the Netherlands. However, he insisted that the approach was more subtle than simply swinging for the fences at every opportunity.”We always try and be as aggressive as we can,” he said. “The misconception is that we’re aiming for 400 every time, whereas it’s more about trying to push the boundaries of what’s expected on the day and not settling for par. We’r trying to push the envelope higher. If the maximum that the wicket allows us is 100, can we try and score 100, instead of 80?”We’re just trying to assess the conditions and imprint our game as much as we can. Of course, you have to understand conditions, but we’ve always been more on the positive side as opposed to the more negative side.”For the hosts, one of the proudest moments in their international history came at the 2015 World Cup, when they progressed to the quarter-finals at England’s expense with a thrilling 15-run victory in Adelaide. Buttler played in that match, which is widely recognised as a catalyst for the dramatic change of approach that propelled England to glory four years later.”Even if we we’d won that game in 2015, we would have fallen down not far after”•Getty Images

But while Buttler acknowledged that that game is seen as a turning point in his team’s fortunes, he also believes that the change was coming regardless.”Even if we we’d won that game in 2015, we would have fallen down not far after,” he said. “Looking back, we were quite a way behind the rest of the teams in the world at that stage. It was very obvious post that World Cup that we had to change the way we played, and try and be at the forefront of where the game was going as opposed to trying to catch up.”I think we would have got to that point regardless, but obviously losing that match and being knocked out of the World Cup at that stage is absolutely now looked back at as that real turning point for English cricket. But I’m sure we would have been found out not long after, had we managed to get through that game.”In the meantime, the 2023 World Cup is looming large, and Buttler recognises the importance of the coming contests, which begin with two ODIs in Dhaka on March 1 and 3, a third in Chittagong on March 6, then three T20Is on March 9, 12 and 14.”All our preparation is geared towards that World Cup,” he said. “These are the conditions that will probably be the closest that we can get to playing in India. We only have these matches, and then we don’t play again until September just before the World Cup, so it’s a great challenge for us and we’re excited for the series.”

Both teams were also fined 40% of their match fee by match referee Chris Broad

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Aug-2021England and India have been fined two World Test Championship points each for their slow over-rates during the first Test in Nottingham, which ended as a rain-affected draw on Sunday. Both teams were also fined 40% of their match fee by match referee Chris Broad.The teams now take two points each out of the Test match, instead of the four they would normally get for a draw under the new points system for the 2021-23 WTC cycle.Related

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“As a team we were not pleased we lost two points because of factors that were definitely in our control,” India captain Virat Kohli said on Wednesday. “We were short by two overs, but we made up quite a few overs in that second innings. we basically have to keep up to speed with the pace of the game – small little things where we can save 10-15 seconds, that really matters, we practised that in the second innings and we were able to cover up three to four overs. You don’t want to be that far behind in the game that you are not able then to not to catch up and cover your overs in time, as the points are very, very crucial.”A major factor behind the slow over rates was both teams opting for pace-heavy attacks owing to the seam-and-swing-friendly pitch and overhead conditions at Trent Bridge. England picked four fast bowlers and no spinners, and India four fast bowlers and one spinner, Ravindra Jadeja. In the end, the quicks sent down all but 16 of the 250.2 overs bowled during the Test match.The match was also beset by frequent rain interruptions, while the completion of overs was also delayed by batters not being ready to face. As light worsened on the second afternoon, KL Rahul took his time to get into his position against James Anderson. England’s batters, meanwhile, also made Mohammed Siraj wait on more than one occasion.Over-rate-related points deductions could prove costly to teams during the WTC. In the inaugural 2019-21 cycle, Australia were docked four points for their slow over rate during the 2020 Boxing Day Test against India in Melbourne. It ultimately cost them a place in the final, which instead went to eventual champions New Zealand.

Hosts still need a miracle, but battling innings sets the stage for a possible escape

Paul Edwards21-Jul-2022
“We’ll be all right when we get to Cheltenham.” For generations of Gloucestershire cricketers these words have come as a comfort and a reassurance. However grim their season had been, a fortnight in the south Cotswolds would always improve matters. Some of the former players attending the PCA reunion at the College Ground today will have travelled to this élite outground with their confidence battered by defeats, only to leave it with fresh hope.Well, surely not this year, or not this week at any rate. Graeme van Buuren’s team have yet to win a first-class game in 2022 and, barring a miracle that would strain the powers of Ben Stokes, Merlin and the Blessed Virgin combined, they are not going to win this one.But somehow, Cheltenham never quite lets Gloucestershire’s cricketers down, nor indeed the spectators for whom this fortnight includes eight days of obligation. So much was plain just before five past seven when Miles Hammond edged Keith Barker to third man and thus reached his first century in 38 first-class matches, a sequence that stretches back to September 2018.Earlier in that distant summer, the stylish left-hander had made his maiden century on the College Ground, against Sussex, on an afternoon when inevitable comparisons were made with his namesake. Since then, Hammond has batted well at times but never properly realised his rich promise. Today, though, the majority of his 16 fours, especially the cover-drives, were cleanly struck and his two sixes off Dawson were calculated blows.Yet it will require a colossal effort for Gloucestershire to save this game. Earlier in the afternoon they had been bowled out for 201 and there seemed every chance they would suffer an innings defeat when they followed on. This was a little more likely on a day when 109.2 overs were bowled as the umpires sought to compensate for excessive heat on the first day and rain on the second. However, after seeming in danger of losing 18 wickets in three session when they were 111 for four in their second innings, Gloucestershire ended another long evening session just 65 behind and with six wickets in hand. It must seem like riches and when Hampshire’s coach, Giles White gathered his players on the outfield after close of play, he was probably reminding them they were still winning the match. Hammond’s achievement was to make such a meeting necessary.The first hour or so of this extraordinary day had also gone dreamily well for Gloucestershire. Instead of seeing wickets falling in an unseemly clatter, as some had predicted, we watched Hammond hit five boundaries and Ollie Price play a fine supporting role. When Kyle Abbott overpitched, Hammond drove him through the covers three times in two overs. “Shot!” exclaimed someone in The Pig and Pallett who had started early. It should be noted that the P&P is a gazebo’d affair that serves as the Festival’s pub. There are certainly plenty of pallets under the beige canvas but the porcine presence is thankfully less evident.Anyway, Hammond was looking secure, illusorily so, as it turned out. James Vince brought on Dawson from the Chapel End and the left-hander at once whipped him to the midwicket boundary. Three balls later he came down the pitch to repeat the trick and was smartly stumped by Ben Brown for 38. At that point in the day’s cricket, Hammond had made five fifties this season yet his top score was 75 not out. Dismissals when well set had scaffolded his recent summersAlmost at once, things got worse for Gloucestershire. James Bracey completely misread Dawson’s niggardly flight and drove his second ball back to the bowler. Now the home side were 93 for four and some gloomy fears were being realised. So the crowd’s applause for Price’s fifty, which he reached with successive fours off Abbott, might have been thought a little excessive had one not understood the local warmth that always informs this precious Festival.But Hampshire were not to be resisted. They are finding ways to win games and ways to take wickets this summer. Having made a career-best 59, Price looked to work Felix Organ behind square on the leg side. It was a decent option and would have brought him a couple of runs had not Nick Gubbins anticipated the shot and dived to his right to take a brilliant one-handed catch. Twenty-one-year old Price stayed at the crease awhile as if unable to believe how his green world had mistreated him. Ryan Higgins came out and made 11 in 14 balls before losing his off pole on the stroke of lunch when playing a quite horrendous swipe across the line to a good length ball from James Fuller. Van Buuren, the Gloucestershire skipper, watched this dismissal from the other end and one doubts Higgins sat near him during the break in play. Abergavenny might not have been far enough away.Undaunted, though, van Buuren went on to reach his own half-century after the break. His unbeaten 58 was full of the small man’s stock-in-trade: pulls, sweeps, cuts and wristy punches. At the other end, Gloucestershire lost their last four wickets in 11 overs to concede a 256-run deficit. No one fainted when Vince enforced the follow-on. Dawson finished with 4 for 44 but he was merely the best of a very good and varied bunch of bowlers.In their first innings Marcus Harris and Chris Dent had survived 5.4 overs; they managed to face five balls fewer in the second dig. In the third over Harris drove a little far from his body at a ball from Barker and nicked a catch to Brown. Two overs later the same bowler sent Dent’s off stick flipping towards the dressing rooms. 17 for 2 and 14 for 2, the ball still very new in both innings; a side does pretty well if it can cope with starts like that.And by now, of course, the game had rewound to 11.00 this morning when Price and Hammond were reconstructing their side’s first innings. They managed well enough some five hours later, too, adding a stand of 63 to their previous 76 before Price pulled the first ball of a new spell from Barker straight to Vince at midwicket. Bracey then batted uneasily for 45 minutes before edging Abbott to Dawson at second slip but van Buuren offered Hammond reassuringly steadfast company in light that remained remarkably playable. On the adjoining College Lawn, somehow inflated a hot-air balloon with a Glos. Cricket logo on its side. Meanwhile, on the cricket ground, more or less everyone applauded Hammond home. And to think that some of us had doubted Cheltenham.

The legspinner will help cover for injuries in the bowling attack

Tristan Lavalette24-Dec-2021Two-time defending BBL champions Sydney Sixers have bolstered their shorthanded attack with the prized signing of Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan.Shadab will be available for the remainder of the season in a timely addition for the injury-hit Sixers, who have lost offspinner Ben Manenti to a season-ending neck injury while frontliner Steve O’Keefe is currently on the sidelines with a calf strain.They have also been left depleted in the pace ranks with English import Tom Curran returning home due to a back injury while compatriot Chris Jordan’s five-match stint has come to an end. In better news, former Australia Test seamer Jackson Bird is expected to return soon and make his BBL season debut as he recovers from an Achilles injury.Renowned for his ability to wickedly turn the ball, Shadab will add dynamism and class to Sixers’ attack as they chase a historic hat-trick of BBL titles. He returns to the BBL after a brief three-match stint with Brisbane Heat in the 2017-18 season.He starred at the recent T20 World Cup with nine wickets from six games, including 4 for 26 against eventual champion Australia in the semi-finals. Shadab, however, was wicketless in his past two T20Is against West Indies earlier in the month.A handy lower-order batter, Shadab averages 18.33 with a strike rate of 136.81 from 64 T20Is and has also scored three half-centuries in his six-Test career.Shadab is the fifth Pakistani to sign in this season’s BBL and joins Melbourne Stars’ trio Haris Rauf, Syed Faridoun and Ahmad Daniyal, and Sydney Thunder’s Mohammad Hasnain.Sixers coach Greg Shipperd said the squad now boasted a trio of exciting young spinners with Lloyd Pope and Todd Murphy also part of the ranks.”All three young men are still learning their craft but have shown at various levels that they can be world class,” he said. “We welcome Shadab’s skills in all three facets of the game and can’t wait to see him get an opportunity in coming matches.”Even though they have had a horror run of injuries, Sixers sit second on the BBL ladder with their next match against crosstown rival Thunder – dubbed the ‘Sydney Smash’ – on December 26 at Sydney Showgrounds.