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The ACB has given him a 12-month contract extension after a successful 2024 that featured the team’s maiden appearance in a World Cup semi-final

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2024Jonathan Trott will continue as Afghanistan men’s head coach till the end of 2025. His next assignment will be the ODI leg of Afghanistan’s multi-format tour of Zimbabwe, but he will not take charge in the other formats for personal reasons. In his absence, Hamid Hassan will deputise as head coach and Nawroz Mangal as assistant coach.The Afghanistan Cricket Board has extended Trott’s contract by 12 months following a highly successful 2024 for the team. The year featured Afghanistan’s first ever World Cup semi-final appearance following victories over New Zealand and Australia in the Group- and Super-Eights stages of the T20 event in the West Indies and the USA. They have since beaten both South Africa and Bangladesh in ODI series in Sharjah.Related

• Jonathan Trott to step down as Afghanistan head coach after 2026 T20 World Cup

• Mujeeb returns for Zimbabwe tour, Akbari earns maiden T20I call-up

• Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi to retire from ODIs after Champions Trophy 2025

Afghanistan’s next major global tournament is a maiden appearance in the Champions Trophy next year. They qualified for the event after finishing among the top eight teams on the 2023 ODI World Cup points table, after a campaign that featured wins over England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.Trott’s tenure began in July 2022 with an 18-month stint that was renewed by a year in January 2024. Afghanistan have won 14 of the 34 ODIs and 20 of the 44 T20Is they have played since his appointment.The ongoing stint with Afghanistan is Trott’s first as head coach. He was a consultant with Scotland during the 2021 T20 World Cup. As a player, he made 3835 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 44.08, and was a key figure in England’s away Ashes victory in 2010-11. In ODI cricket, he made 2819 runs at an average of 51.25 with four hundreds and 22 fifties.

Two years on from what should have been his final Test appearance, allrounder returns to Old Trafford for extraordinary encore

Matt Roller17-Jul-2023As Moeen Ali celebrated his second IPL title with Chennai Super Kings after a breathless final in Ahmedabad seven weeks ago, Test cricket could not have been further from his mind. He was in his second year of retirement from the format, balancing his commitments as England’s white-ball vice-captain with lucrative opportunities on the T20 circuit.Now, with an Ashes series on the line in Manchester, he is not only England’s lead spinner, but their No. 3 batter, too. It is a unique all-round role for England in modern Ashes cricket; to find a precedent, you have to go back to the days of ‘Young Jack’ Hearne, Frank Woolley and Wilfred Rhodes.This was not meant to happen. Moeen planned to spend these few weeks enjoying some rare time off in the short gap between the T20 Blast and the Hundred, but events – Jack Leach’s back, Ollie Pope’s shoulder and Moeen’s conversation with Brendon McCullum on the third evening at Headingley – have taken over, as they often do.”Things happen for a reason,” Moeen said on Monday. “I genuinely believe that and I’ve always believed it. That’s why, when the call came, I thought, ‘It’s an opportunity I can’t turn down.’ It’s a great challenge but yeah, things happen for a reason. I’m a big one on faith and destiny and all that.”Emirates Old Trafford was meant to be the scene of Moeen’s final Test two years ago, but India’s withdrawal from the game hours before the first ball was bowled meant that his farewell appearance never happened. Two years later, he should get the chance to bow out at The Oval: “It would be amazing to win an Ashes and finish Test cricket properly.”Moeen’s promotion to No. 3 at Headingley was a move in keeping with the rest of his Test career, engineered for the benefit of others rather than himself. He knew that Harry Brook was more comfortable at No. 5, and thought Jonny Bairstow would have more influence shifting down a spot or two, so approached McCullum and pitched his idea.He explained: “If I can even just play 10 overs and we get through that hardness of the ball, it’s probably easier for the other guys to come in – especially in a chase like that. I just thought it was better, and they obviously all agreed.”Moeen only made 5 off 15 balls before losing his leg stump to Mitchell Starc, yet his promotion was a qualified success: it meant Brook walked out in the 20th over, rather than the 10th, and his 75 was the decisive innings in England’s three-wicket win. “I know you want your best players up the order,” he said, “but with Popey out of the side, it’s obviously short-term.”And it is easily forgotten, amid his self-deprecation, that Moeen is an experienced No. 3. He has batted there 75 times in first-class cricket for Worcestershire, averaging 53.61 with seven hundreds and two doubles, and has long said that the higher up the order he bats, the more he feels like a genuine batter: “You end up preparing differently.”Related

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“[I’ve been] going back to simple things about batting: playing the ball late; playing as straight as I can; and just leaving a few balls,” he explained. “Just trying to get my mindset right for No. 3.” He netted in the indoor school at Edgbaston between Tests, and since arriving in Manchester has been “just hitting balls, training quite a bit, trying to get myself ready for a tough challenge”.Moeen is 23 runs away from reaching 3,000 in Tests, to go with his 200 wickets, and would become only the 16th man to complete that double. “I think it means more to my dad,” he said. “It would mean a lot to me as well but my dad is the one who is buzzing for it so hopefully I can get there. I know it’s only 20-odd runs but it feels like miles off.”He has thrived with the ball at Old Trafford, taking 16 wickets in his three previous Tests here, and proved at Headingley – where he dismissed both Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith – that his spinning finger has healed sufficiently for him to fulfil his role after the seam of the ball ripped his skin at Edgbaston.Moeen was sent an anti-bacterial gel called ‘Medihoney’ by an NHS worker after the first Test, who wrote him a letter explaining that she was a big fan; it helped to heal the wound almost straightaway. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing,'” he told the BBC. “Those little things are what make me content and happy.”Moeen will be part of one of the oldest, most experienced bowling attacks in England’s Test history this week. They have 1,974 Test wickets between them, breaking the record set by the attack that played in the first match of the series. “I was always told that old is gold,” he said with a smile.Everything about Moeen’s comeback has been surreal, yet somehow utterly in keeping with the rest of a mercurial Test career. When he first retired, it seemed Moeen’s legacy would be his selflessness and adaptability. If he can help England square the series this week, it could be even greater.

Pakistan batter, demoted to No. 6, hits unbeaten 129 to rescue Derbyshire

ECB Reporters Network12-Jun-2023A brilliant exhibition of counter-attacking batting by Leus du Plooy and Haider Ali halted Yorkshire’s victory charge in its tracks and rescued Derbyshire on the second day of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Chesterfield.Derbyshire’s decision to move Haider down the order – from opening to No. 6 – proved to be inspired as the Pakistani batter scored his first century for the county and shared an unbroken record-breaking fifth-wicket stand with du Plooy.of 231 from 311 balls.They had come together with Derbyshire heading for defeat at 17 for 4 after Dawid Malan’s 106 guided Yorkshire to 353 and a lead of 242 with Scottish spinner Mark Watt taking a career-best 5 for 83.But du Plooy’s 96 and Ali’s 129 lifted the home side to 248 for 4 and a lead of six when bad light followed by an electrical storm ended play with 10 overs left in the day.Yorkshire had looked set for an even bigger lead until the dismissal of Malan sparked a collapse that saw the last five wickets fall for 28 runs.Malan completed his second hundred of the season from 130 balls but when he failed to get enough on a lofted drive at Watt, Suranga Lakmal took off to his left at mid-off to hold a brilliant catch. Lakmal hurt his right elbow when he fell but was able to take the second new ball although it was the spinners who did the damage.Dom Bess was bowled as he pushed out at Alex Thomson and after dispatching Watt for a big six over long-on, Jordan Thompson drilled the left-armer to mid-on. Matthew Revis edged a big drive at Ben Aitchison before Watt snared his fifth victim when Fisher drove to long-off on the stroke of lunch.File photo: du Plooy clips off his pads•Getty Images

Yorkshire’s advantage was still a substantial one and it looked more than enough when Derbyshire’s top order folded for the second time in the match. Coad struck in his second over from the Pavilion End when a full length ball beat Harry Came’s defensive push and Luis Reece went in the next over.Fisher trapped Reece on the crease and Wayne Madsen went without scoring after he pushed out at Coad and was caught at first slip. When Fisher found the outside edge of Matt Lamb’s bat, a two-day finish looked on the cards but after an uncomfortable start, du Plooy and Haider counter-attacked to put Yorkshire on the back foot.Bess came in for heavy punishment with Haider coming down the pitch to drive his offspin for six and du Plooy swept him for his 10th four to reach 50 off 61 balls.Related

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• Hasan Ali makes his mark as Warwickshire take control

• Yorkshire take charge against Derbyshire on back of Fisher five-for

Haider forced Revis behind square to go to his half-century from 60 balls and when Coad returned to the attack, he dispatched him for three fours in the over. Bess was launched down the ground for another six and by tea, the partnership was 150 in 29 overs with the arrears now down to 75.It had been a spirited response to what looked a hopeless position and it was Yorkshire who now had some problems to solve. They slowed the scoring rate at the start of the last session but there were few signs of the breakthrough Yorkshire were desperate for.Haider swept Bess for his 16th four to reach an outstanding century and then opened up by taking four boundaries in an over from the spinner.The pair passed Derbyshire’s previous highest fifth wicket stand against Yorkshire of 184 by John Eggar and Alan Revill at Bradford in 1949 and when the weather closed in, it was the visitors who were relieved to get off the field.

Adam Zampa might be Australia’s specialist white-ball spinner at the moment, but he hopes to use the upcoming summer to prove that his skills can be transferred to the longer form of the game

Brydon Coverdale12-Aug-2016Adam Zampa might be Australia’s specialist white-ball spinner at the moment, but he hopes to use the upcoming summer to prove that his skills can be transferred to the longer form of the game. Zampa made his ODI and T20 debuts for Australia earlier this year and immediately impressed with his poise under pressure, a trait that has brought him success, particularly in T20 cricket.He was the leading wicket-taker among spinners during the recent Caribbean Premier League, in which he claimed 15 victims at 18.46 for the Guyana Amazon Warriors, and is about to join Australia’s squad in Sri Lanka for the limited-overs leg of their tour. The axing of Glenn Maxwell from the ODI squad should create plenty of chances for Zampa, named alongside Nathan Lyon in the squad.”It’s a big opportunity for me,” Zampa told reporters in Adelaide during a brief trip home between the CPL and the Sri Lanka series. “Looking at the next six months or so coming up too, there’s quite a lot of white-ball cricket. There’s probably three or four tours this summer. It’s a good opportunity for me to cement my spot even more in that one-day and T20 side.”However, Zampa also knows that opportunities are presenting themselves for spinners in the Test side, with Steve O’Keefe and Jon Holland both having played alongside Lyon during the ongoing Test series in Sri Lanka. In order to make himself a candidate for a Test call-up, Zampa will need to make the most of his opportunities at the Sheffield Shield level during the gaps between his white-ball commitments.Last summer, Zampa played five Shield games for South Australia and collected 10 wickets at 45.20, but he was far from alone in terms of spinners being overshadowed during that season. The top 10 wicket-takers in the previous Shield summer were all fast bowlers, including three from Zampa’s own state – Joe Mennie, Daniel Worrall and Chadd Sayers – who dominated the wickets tally.”It’s been made pretty obvious that I’m predominantly white-ball cricket at the moment,” Zampa said. “I want to try and show that I’ve actually improved as a bowler in the last 12 months. I haven’t had a great opportunity, but in Shield cricket last year, I actually felt like I bowled really well.”With our bowling attack and the way the wickets were going last year, I actually didn’t get too much opportunity. I’m hoping to get some suitable conditions this year, and I want to try and win some games for South Australia before I’m ready to play for Australia.”If Zampa can show his red-ball skills during whatever Shield games he plays this summer, the reward could be significant. A Test tour of India in February-March will require Australia to take at least two, and possibly, three spinners.”I’ve got to get quite a few more games under my belt,” Zampa said. “I’ve only played three or four four-dayers in the last 12 months. This year is going to be a great opportunity for me. There’s some opportunities coming up, you’ve seen with O’Keefe, Lyon, Holland… there’s an India tour coming up, so Shield cricket this year is going to be big for me.”

Holders Warwickshire were eliminated from the Royal London Cup as Derbyshire again made runs for fun

ECB Reporters Network10-May-2017
ScorecardBen Slater managed another big Derbyshire total [file picture]•Getty Images

The international experience of Jeevan Mendis took Derbyshire to a four wicket victory that knocked holders Warwickshire out of the Royal London One-Day Cup.The Sri Lankan all-rounder hit six fours and a six in an unbeaten 44 off 23 balls to steer Derbyshire home with two balls to spare to keep alive their hopes of finishing in the top three of the North Group.The visitors’ 292 for 7 was built on Sam Hain’s highest one-day score of 109 and Ian Bell’s 93 but Ben Slater set Derbyshire up with 82 before Mendis carried the home side to 296 for 6.Four times in less than a fortnight Derbyshire have recorded scores that all rank in the top 20 they have ever made in one-day cricket.Warwickshire first team coach Jim Troughton admitted: “We knew we wanted 20 extra runs which would have given us a cushion for a little cameo there from Mendis who played exceptionally well. When you lose by a small margin it’s a tough one for the guys to take.”His side would have expected to go past 300 when Hain and Bell accumulated steadily after Jonathan Trott had played on to Ben Cotton in the eighth over.Although only 43 came from the opening Powerplay, conditions were good for batting under a cloudless sky and runs came more freely as Hain and Bell relied on placement rather than power.Hain’s second 50 came from only 38 balls but when he gave himself room to drive Thakor through the covers, he lost his middle stump which ended Warwickshire’s highest stand for any wicket against Derbyshire in one-day cricket.Bell’s run out four overs later, going for a second on a misfield, meant Warwickshire had two new batsmen in and the innings stalled against tight bowling backed up by sharp fielding.Rikki Clarke went cheaply against the club he used to captain and, although Tim Ambrose dented Ben Cotton’s figures by pulling him for two consecutive sixes, he was lbw hitting across the line at Thakor.When Hardus Viljoen conceded only four off the bat in the final over, Warwickshire had been restricted to 44 from the last seven although Derbyshire still needed to make their highest one-day score against them to win.They were given a solid start by Slater and Billy Godleman who made 46 before he was sent back and run out for 46 in the 18th over as the spinners checked the home side’s progress.Clarke profited when he returned to have Thakor caught at deep mid on for 20 and although Slater pulled Ateeq Javid for six, he was bowled attempting the same shot at Patel two overs later.When Wayne Madsen was lbw to Keith Barker, Derbyshire needed 120 from the last 15 overs but Daryn Smit pulled Mark Adair for four and six to reduce the target to 84 from 10.Alex Hughes helped add 62 in nine overs before Mendis took over, clubbing Clarke for six before he sealed victory with a drive down the ground off Barker.Mendis said: “I wanted to play a good innings for Derbyshire but this was a team effort. The senior players have done well and it gives the younger players a boost to help them in the future.”Every time I go out to bat I get nervous and batting at No 7 is hard because you get few balls to play yourself in so you get little time to get going.”

Kane Williamson lamented a New Zealand batting display which did not adjust to a challenging pitch at Eden Park in the deciding ODI

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland04-Mar-2017Kane Williamson lamented a New Zealand batting display which did not adjust to a challenging pitch at Eden Park in the deciding ODI. For the second time in the series they were bowled out well inside the 50 overs, and though Williamson said conditions were difficult he believed the batsman could have been smarter.South Africa did not find it easy, either, until the target came into view and the chase was finished in a hurry. AB de Villiers said he would have been concerned with a chase of much over 200 and had targeted working through New Zealand for 150 after nabbing their big names early.Martin Guptill fell in the fifth over and by the end of the 16th, Williamson and Ross Taylor had also departed, the captain to a run-out after a poor call from Dean Brownlie.  There had only been six lower completed first innings at the ground, the most recent of those being 141 by Sri Lanka in 2004.”It was far from easy, but that’s when fight needs to be shown to get a competitive score,” Williamson said. “A lot of the time at Eden Park it’s hard to know what a good score is. So that’s where that assessment needs to take place and build those partnerships. We couldn’t do that today. South Africa bowled well and made it very tough.”As he had in Wellington, Williamson referenced the difficulty of rotating the strike on a drop-in wicket where the ball does not run easily over the square. That was particularly evident against Imran Tahir who bowled his ten overs for a stifling 14 runs – the thriftiest ten-over spell by a spinner in New Zealand – as he benefited from batsmen hemmed in by the early pressure.”It is tough to rotate the strike out there and when you are under pressure and lose wickets that is something you look to do to bring some momentum back and that wasn’t happening,” Williamson said. “You need to appreciate that at Eden Park and look to skin it another way. Perhaps our batting smarts weren’t quite where we needed to be.”We lost a number of wickets around Imran which made it difficult. We needed two guys to stick there for a death phase so we had wickets in hand so we could go harder.”Although New Zealand set a solid total in Christchurch and had the Guptill-inspired chase in Hamilton, this series has raised questions about areas of the top order, notably Guptill’s opening partner and how they shuffle the middle order to accommodate the allrounders and wicketkeeper.However, despite this hefty defeat which ended their unbeaten home record in ODI series dating back to 2014, Williamson believed it had been another season of solid white-ball results, with victories over Bangladesh and Australia.”We would have loved to have won the series, but there’s been some really, really good cricket played against some highly-ranked opposition. We’ve had a tough summer of one-day cricket,” he said. “There have been some steps of improvement, new guys have come in and done well and that’s all important moving forward. You want to breed that depth so guys can come in and make the difference. We’ve seen good signs of that.”New Zealand’s next one-day cricket is a triangular series in Ireland in May, also involving Bangladesh, before the Champions Trophy. New Zealand’s IPL-bound players, who include Williamson, Guptill, Trent Boult and Tim Southee, will be allowed to skip that series if their franchises are still in the tournament. Batsmen George Worker, Tom Bruce and Henry Nicholls will be in contention to fill in for the absentees, along with Seth Rance, Hamish Bennett and Scott Kuggeleijn with the ball.

Chris Rogers, the former Australia opener who announced his retirement last week, has suggested a similar change to the toss regulations introduced in England for the 2016 Championship season could also benefit Australian cricket

Alan Gardner28-Sep-2016Chris Rogers, the former Australia opener who announced his retirement last week, has suggested a similar change to the toss regulations introduced in England for the 2016 Championship season could also benefit Australian cricket.Away teams were given the choice of bowling first or asking for a toss (if they wished to bat), a move designed to discourage teams from preparing green, seaming pitches and give spinners more of an opportunity as games wore on. Rogers led Somerset to second place in Division One – missing out on a first title by four points to Middlesex on the final day – after overseeing the club’s switch to playing on turning surfaces during the latter half of the season.Although Rogers, a regular performer in county cricket for more than a decade, said he felt his game was better suited to playing on traditional English surfaces that aided swing and seam, he was encouraged by his own development against spin, in his final season as a professional, and suggested the experiment could be taken to Australia and the Sheffield Shield.”I think Australia would benefit from it as well,” Rogers said. “The one thing that seems to be happening in Australian cricket, all the wickets there are becoming quite uniform in the way they play. The drop-in wickets, at Melbourne and Adelaide, and then Sydney doesn’t play the way it used to.”So in the end I worry if we’re producing players who only really know how to play in a certain type of condition. If it meant that sides were trying to get different types of wickets that might help Australian cricket as well. So I’d like to think that they’d consider it.”Australia’s Test side has struggled on overseas commitments in recent years, winning in South Africa, the West Indies and New Zealand but suffering chastening defeats in England, India, the UAE and, most recently, Sri Lanka. The coach, Darren Lehmann, expressed similar concerns about the state of home pitches during the 3-0 loss in Sri Lanka, with questions being asked of Australia’s batting and the ability of players to adapt to different conditions.Discussion of the surfaces produced in Shield cricket has gone back and forth in recent years, with a trend for increasingly bowler-friendly pitches being reversed by Cricket Australia directive.An experiment with using Dukes balls in the Shield has already been flagged for 2016-17, after Ricky Ponting’s call in the wake of Australia repeatedly coming unstuck against the lateral movement achieved by England’s pace attack during the 2015 Ashes.Rogers did express a concern that a shift away from seaming pitches in England might diminish what has historically been a strength – both in terms of bowlers coming through and top-order batsman able to combat the moving ball. But, after signing off his first-class career with a century in each innings at Taunton, he felt that the change to the toss had helped rebalance the domestic game and also provided him fresh learning opportunities as a batsman and captain.”How to captain spin, that’s quite a skill in itself,” he said. “I felt my captaincy got better the more we played on those wickets. Everybody’s learning, which is great.”I’ve never been a great player of spin, I found it really hard, but to get two hundreds in the last game, on a wicket that was turning – I think I was getting better and better, even at this late stage of my career, and that’s a good thing as well. It’s going to help the younger guys when they go to some of the Asian countries and play there, it’s going to be so hard but at least they’ll have a little bit of experience.”

Mumbai’s middle-order batting has been a bit shaky, while Kings XI’s recent home record against Rohit Sharma’s men hasn’t been too good

The Preview by Sruthi Ravindranath29-Mar-20193:49

Will Kings XI bring in Mujeeb Ur Rahman?

Big picture

Their respective first wins this season might have been marred – or overshadowed – by controversy, but Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab will be glad they don’t have any alarming issues to address yet.Mumbai, who came into the tournament with depleted overseas pace stocks, look well-rounded now with Lasith Malinga’s inclusion. They have further received a shot in the arm by roping in West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph as Adam Milne’s replacement.On the other hand, Kings XI, who were over-reliant on openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle last year, now look like they have a middle-order that can step up when needed. Last year, their middle order (No. 4 to 7) contributed at an average of just 20 in 13 innings, but this year, in just two games, there has been a remarkable turnaround: they average 84 at a strike rate of 148.7.Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin pose ahead of the toss•BCCI

Mumbai do have concerns in the middle order, to be fair. They lost five wickets for 24 runs in the middle during the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore and only recovered because of Hardik Pandya, whose counter-attacking 14-ball 32 took them to 187. Similarly, Yuvraj Singh’s 35-ball 53 was their only solid middle-order contribution in the 37-run loss to Delhi Capitals in their first game.After a couple of away games, Kings XI are all set for their first home game of the season; while that’s usually a cause for optimism for most teams, and they do have a 51% win record in Mohali, they have lost to Mumbai in the last four encounters at the venue.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Mitchell McClenaghan, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Lasith MalingaKings XI Punjab: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Sarfaraz Khan, 5 David Miller (wk), 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Andrew Tye, 8 R Ashwin (capt), 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 Ankit RajpootChris Gayle was at his blistering best after taking his time to get going•BCCI

Strategy punt

• Chris Gayle and David Miller have an impressive record against Mumbai in the tournament. Gayle averages 41 with five half-centuries, while Miller averages 42.8. So how do you stop these two in-form batsmen? The answer, according to historical data, is Malinga. Gayle has scored just 85 runs in 14 innings in T20s against the fast bowler and has lost his wicket twice to him. Miller averages just 8.8 against Malinga and has been dismissed four times.
• Short-ball strategy against Gayle? Since IPL 2015, Gayle has lost his wicket six times to short-pitched deliveries.
• Mujeeb ur Rahman, who was replaced by million-dollar mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy last game, has played just three games in Mohali but has an impressive record. He’s picked up 11 wickets and has bowled at an economy of 6.6. Will Kings XI bring him back for this match?

Stats that matter

• Since IPL 2016, Mumbai have won 80% of the matches when their captain Rohit Sharma has scored 20 or above.
• Mumbai are just one away from their 100th win in IPL – no team has reached the milestone yet.
• Gayle is two short of becoming the first batsman to hit 300 sixes in the IPL.

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.

Parthiv Patel, Vinay Kumar and James Franklin are part of the coaching staff too, while Robin Singh is the general manager – cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2022Shane Bond, the bowling coach at Mumbai Indians in the IPL since 2015 – a job he will continue to do – has been named head coach of MI Emirates, the Mumbai Indians-owned team in UAE’s ILT20. The staff also has Parthiv Patel [batting coach] and Vinay Kumar [bowling coach] making their debuts as coaches, and James Franklin will be the fielding coach. Additionally, Robin Singh will be the general manager of cricket.While the fixtures for the ILT20 are not out yet, the tournament will be played in the same January-February 2023 window as the SA20 league in South Africa. That required the Mumbai Indians group to appoint multiple coaching teams, since they have teams in both the competitions.With the latest round of appointments, that exercise is complete.Related

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• Jayawardene, Zaheer elevated to global roles with MI

• Pollard, Boult, Pooran, Tahir picked up by MI Emirates

Mark Boucher, who will step down from his position as the head coach of the South Africa men’s national team at the end of the team’s campaign at the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, has been signed up to be the head coach at Mumbai Indians in the IPL.That position opened up after Mahela Jayawardene, the Mumbai Indians head coach since 2017, was elevated to a more global role within the Mumbai Indians group. Jayawardene has been made the group’s global head of performance. He will be overseeing the scouting and coaching of all three teams that the owners have – at the IPL, the ILT20, and the SA20. And Zaheer Khan, earlier the director of cricket operations, has been made the global head of cricket development for the three teams.Simon Katich, meanwhile, has been made the head coach of MI Cape Town, the SA20 team. Katich will be assisted by Hashim Amla as the batting coach, while Robin Peterson will be the team’s general manager. James Pamment will take charge as fielding coach [and continue in the same role with Mumbai Indians at the IPL too].MI Emirates have Kieron Pollard, Trent Boult and Dwayne Bravo, among others, in their roster of non-UAE [overseas] players already.”Having been an integral part of MI for various periods of time, the coaching team is exceptionally well-versed in the values that make MI what it is,” Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, which owns the three teams, said in a statement.For his part, Bond said, “It’s always exciting to build a new team and I’m looking forward to furthering the MI legacy and inspiring our players to take the game to new heights.”Bond, the former New Zealand quick, has been a part of the coaching set-up of a number of teams in the past. Apart from being the New Zealand bowling coach and part of the team’s backroom staff at various stages, he has also been the head coach at Sydney Thunder in the BBL, a position he held between 2018 and 2021. He has also been part of the England team as a bowling consultant in the past.