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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.

Elsewhere, Bengal chased down 349 against Baroda, and Parvez Rasool’s ten-wicket match haul gave J&K a comfortable win over Puducherry

Sreshth Shah20-Feb-2022

Elite Group A

Chasing 195, Gujarat were rolled over for 88 in the fourth innings by Madhya Pradesh, led by left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya’s five-wicket haul. Gujarat had rattled Madhya Pradesh from an overnight score of 202 for 4 to 251 all out on the back of Chintan Gaja’s six-for in the morning, but with a batting display where only one player (Karan Patel) crossed the 20s, they fell 106 short.MP are now second on the points table in Group A, with Kerala at the top after their innings win over Meghalaya on Saturday.Shahbaz Ahmed struck an unbeaten 71 as Bengal chased down 349 against Baroda•BCCI

Elite Group B

All out for 88 in their first innings, Bengal‘s batters turned it around on the final day to successfully chase down 349 against Baroda in Cuttack. The 79 from opener Abhimanyu Easwaran had given them a leg up on day three, but they needed an unbeaten 108-run seventh-wicket partnership between allrounder Shahbaz Ahmed (71*) and debutant wicketkeeper Abishek Porel (53*) to cross the line.In the other Group B game, Ravi Teja ran through Chandigarh‘s batting line up to give Hyderabad a 217-run win. Hyderabad had set Chandigarh a 401-run target on the back of Hanuma Vihari’s 106. Teja then proved too hot for Chandigarh on the final day with a six-for, taking his match haul to 9 for 94. Chandigarh opener Arslan Khan made 68 while Raj Bawa, the Player of the Match at the U-19 World Cup final, was left unbeaten on a 47-ball 35 with the side losing their last four wickets for just one run.Parvez Rasool’s ten-wicket match haul gave Jammu & Kashmir a comfortable win•BCCI

Elite Group C

Jammu & Kashmir began their campaign with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Puducherry. Puducherry were 113 for 9 overnight on the back of offspinner Parvez Rasool’s five-for, and he added a sixth in the morning. J&K needed to chase only 42 and their Ian Dev Singh finished the game off with a six on the very first delivery he faced. For Rasool, it was the fourth time he took ten wickets in a match.J&K now lead Group C after Karnataka and Railways played out a draw. Karnataka declared their second innings on 223 for 9 after seamer Amit Mishra (4 for 58) and legspinner Karn Sharma (3 for 47) shared seven wickets, leaving Railways chasing an improbable 279 in the afternoon. Even though Railways were reduced to 26 for 3, they eventually finished on 69 for 4 at the close of play.After his first-innings duck, Cheteshwar Pujara struck a counter-attacking 83-ball 91 in the second dig against Mumbai•Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images

Elite Group D

Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani’s seven-wicket haul had put Mumbai within one wicket of victory going into the last hour against Saurashtra but Jaydev Unadkat (32*) and Chetan Sakariya (10*) batted out 17.2 overs to deny them in Ahmedabad. Following on, Saurashtra openers Harvik Desai (62) and Snell Patel (98) provided a 163-run start but both fell in consecutive overs. Despite Cheteshwar Pujara’s counter-attacking 83-ball 91 with 16 fours and a six, Saurashtra needed the last-gasp partnership to save the day. Sarfaraz Khan was named the Player of the Match for his 275 in Mumbai’s first innings.Odisha held on to a draw in the other Group D game after Goa could take only seven of the ten wickets on day four. Opener Shantanu Mishra’s 267-ball 103 helped Odisha hold up one end for 96.3 overs while wicketkeeper Rajesh Dhuper made 52 from No. 6.

Elite Group E

Needing 39 more in a chase of 133, Uttarakhand wrapped up a nine-wicket win inside nine overs on the final day against Services. Jay Bista struck a run-a-ball 87 not out. Uttarakhand allrounder Dikshanshu Negi was Player of the Match for his match haul of five wickets and 68 in their first innings.Andhra lost their last six wickets in less than 25 overs on day four as Rajasthan‘s bowlers wrapped up a 158-run win in the other Group E fixture. Chasing 368, Andhra were restarting on 100 for 4 but left-arm spinner Shubham Sharma took 4 for 32 and Aniket Choudhary finished with 3 for 50 to bowl Andhra out for 209.Jayant Yadav’s six-for ensured Haryana took the first-innings lead in a drawn game against Tripura•PTI

Elite Group F

Group F saw both fixtures in Delhi finish as high-scoring draws. At Palam, Tripura posted 436 in response to Haryana‘s 556, and Haryana could bat only 20 overs in the second innings before the teams shook hands. The 222-run third-wicket stand between Bishal Ghosh (159) and Samit Gohel (122) lifted Tripura from 56 for 2 on the third day, but Jayant Yadav’s six-for ensured Haryana took the first-innings lead and pocketed three points.At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Himachal Pradesh batter Akash Vasisht made 140 on the final day to follow up on his first-innings 87, but their game against Punjab ended in a drab draw. After Punjab scored 526 in response to HP’s 354, they had a 172-run lead and a chance to register an outright victory. But Himachal batted 118 overs to finish on 402 for 8.

Elite Group G

Uttar Pradesh held on for a draw against Vidarbha after Rinku Singh (62*) and Saurabh Kumar (81*) rescued them from a precarious position. Trying to overcome a 247-run first-innings deficit, UP were 126 for 6 on the final day, but Rinku and Saurabh put on an unbeaten 154-run seventh-wicket stand to deny Vidarbha’s bowlers. Before their stand, overnight batter Priyam Garg made 56 but Akshay Wakhare’s three-wicket haul briefly rattled UP.Rinku Singh (above) and Saurabh Kumar helped Uttar Pradesh eke out a draw•BCCI

Maharashtra‘s left-arm spinner Satyajeet Bachhav finished with 7 for 45 to secure an innings win over Assam in Rohtak. Riyan Parag made 56 for Assam, but Bachhav picked up the last three wickets in one over as Assam folded for 160, seven short to make Maharshtra bat again.

Elite Group H

Delhi‘s Yash Dhull became only the ninth batter in first-class cricket to score a century in each innings on debut as he struck an unbeaten 113 to follow up on his first-innings 113 against Tamil Nadu in Guwahati. Dhruv Shorey struck an unbeaten 107 to take Delhi to 228 for no loss as the match ended in a draw. On day three, Tamil Nadu had taken a 42-run lead on the back of Shahrukh Khan’s 148-ball 194 and Baba Indrajith’s 117.Both Tamil Nadu (3 points) and Delhi (1 point) are behind Chhattisgarh on the points table in this group after they beat Jharkhand by eight wickets inside three days.Sakibul Gani’s 341 on debut could not earn Bihar an outright win against Mizoram•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Plate Group

Nagaland successfully chased down 174 with six wickets in hand, after Sikkim were bowled out for 283 in their second innings. Shrikant Mundhe’s half-century saw them through to the win. Chetan Bist was named Player of the Match for scoring 115 in the first innings and taking eight catches in the game.Sakibul Gani’s first innings score of 341 could not earn Bihar a win as Mizoram lost only four wickets in their second innings after being asked to follow on. Taruwar Kohli’s unbeaten 101 ensured Mizoram had one senior batter holding the fort from one end, while Uday Kaul also made 56. Bihar, though, took three points for their first-innings lead.Manipur are currently leading the Plate Group table. They had completed an innings win over Arunachal Pradesh on day three.

Alastair Cook played down fears that England are over-reliant upon James Anderson as the fast bowler almost single-handedly hauled his team to victory

George Dobell at Trent Bridge14-Jul-2013Alastair Cook has stated that there is no bowler in world cricket he would rather have in his side than James Anderson, but insisted that England were not over-reliant upon him.Anderson delivered a 13-over spell on the final morning to break the back of the Australian resistance and then, despite an attack of cramp, was forced back into service to claim the final wicket. He finished with 10 for 158 in the match and bowled a total of 55.5 overs earning England a 14-run victory and himself the Man-of-the-Match award.Cook did admit, however, that Anderson had carried a heavy burden in this game and accepted that workload concerns were an issue with the second Investec Ashes Test beginning at Lord’s on Thursday and nine more Ashes Tests to come before the end of January.”Jimmy was outstanding,” Cook said afterwards. “He always wants one more over, though 13 was probably quite a lot in that first hour.”But no, I don’t think we’re over-reliant on him at all. He’s a world-class bowler and you sometimes use him in these situations when you know there’s a time-frame. He had an amazing rhythm in this game.”Stuart Broad and Steven Finn have done outstandingly well for us over a huge amount of time, but it just happened to be Jimmy’s day and Jimmy’s game. Sometimes it happens like that.
“When a bowler hits a rhythm you just keep asking him if he’s feeling alright. That’s why you do the training in the gym: when your captain needs you to do it you are physically fit to do it. We know his skill but his heart to keep running in on a hot day on a flat wicket was outstanding.”No, there’s no bowler in the world I’d rather have. Not in any conditions. These were very subcontinent conditions and he was outstanding. He swings it both ways on an immaculate length and makes it very hard to score.”You do worry about his workload in one sense but, when you’re out in the middle, that is kind of irrelevant. You have to think about what is best for the team at that precise time. You can’t be thinking about what will happen in two months time.”It’s the job for our backroom staff and us as a team to make sure we recover well because back-to-back Test matches are hard physically. We have to come back for Thursday ready.”Cook scored Test runs galore in Australia two years ago but his first Ashes Test as captain was something different. “I always said I would be the only England captain not to go bald, but after days like today, it might not help that,” he said.
Asked by Sky Sports whether it had been his best performance in an England shirt, Anderson said: “Yeah I’d say so. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy at the start of the day, but I thought the lads stuck to it and stayed calm when it was getting tough.”I’m just delighted to get the win. I had the nerves going a little bit but I love bowling here, it’s
been good to me over the years and I’m happy that I could pick up some more wickets.”Asked if he could maintain the same levels of workload across the series, he said: “If I’m bowling 13-over spells it’s going to be difficult! But it’s Ashes cricket. I love playing Test match cricket and the Ashes is right up there, and that’s why we do the hard work in the gym – to get out there and bowl long spells.”Australia’s captain, Michael Clarke, was proud of his team in defeat but credited England’s victory to the efforts of Anderson and Ian Bell, who made the only century of the match.”I think the boys can certainly hold their head high. It was a wonderful game of cricket. Credit to England. England fought hard really hard throughout the five days and I think the two best performers of the Test match were Ian Bell making a hundred and Jimmy Anderson getting five-for in each innings, so they deserved the win.”

Senior seamer considering future after decision to omit him and James Anderson for West Indies tour

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-2022Stuart Broad has described how the “five-minute phone call” to tell him he had been dropped from England’s squad for the West Indies tour had left him feeling “confused and angry”, and uncertain about his future as a Test cricketer.Writing in his newspaper column, Broad said the decision had “hit me pretty hard”, as well as affected his sleep. He also confirmed he would seek discussions with England’s new managing director and head coach, once they are appointed, before deciding about a potential return this summer.”I always try to find a positive in the hand that has been dealt to me,” he wrote in the . “To be honest, though, that’s been quite tricky this time because the decision to leave me out of the tour of West Indies has hit me pretty hard.”Not to big it up too much but it has affected my sleep. I said to my partner Mollie one morning that my body felt sore. She suggested that would be stress. No, I can’t pretend I am as good as gold, because I am not. It would be wrong to act like everything’s OK.”Broad and James Anderson, England’s leading wicket-takers in Test cricket, were left out after discussions between a newly formed selection panel of Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and James Taylor. Although Strauss stressed that it was not necessarily “the end of the road” for the pair, Broad said they had both been blindsided by the move.”From a personal perspective, the only positive I can cling to is that my form – and you could add Jimmy Anderson’s recent performances to this too – has been good,” he said. “I took 11 wickets in the final two Ashes matches, I have been Test match standard for a long time and, for the last eight years, you would say world class.Related

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“And so, it makes it even more upsetting that they don’t see me part of their immediate plans, especially with a view to looking at a way of winning away from home, which was briefly explained to me.”Broad denied that there had been any falling out in the dressing room in Australia, saying the atmosphere in the team was good despite another 4-0 Ashes defeat.Although he indicated that he wants to meet with England’s new management team as soon as they are installed – Strauss is currently interim director of men’s cricket, Collingwood interim head coach – and said “their opinions are now everything to me”, he also suggested he would have to reassess his motivation to carry on.”So, has this episode changed the way I think about my career? I just can’t answer that at the moment. I spoke to my mum Carole on Friday because I am waking up more confused and angrier with each passing day, and she just advised me to take time, step away from the game for a bit and figure things out.”Time can be a great healer, she says. But right now, I feel gutted. Do I need to prove myself again? In my mind, I’ve nothing to prove. I am a proven performer, so it is now about the English cricketing summer and mentally and physically targeting the home series against New Zealand in June.”What I would say is there have been times when I have been able to answer such questions with ease. But as things stand, feeling as though I’ve performed well and deserve to be in the side makes it hard.”Understandably, people will ask if there has therefore been some fall-out behind the scenes, a bit of a rumble during the Ashes, but I can categorically say that is not the case. Hence, neither Jimmy nor I saw this coming. We were blindsided.”Broad added that while England’s recent record in Tests had been poor and he agreed with the need to change things, he still saw himself as deserving a spot in their first-choice XI.”Do I believe I warrant a place in England’s best team in Antigua on March 8? Of course, I do. That is why it is so difficult to comprehend.”If I was averaging 100 with the ball recently and had a terrible record in the Caribbean, then OK, try someone else. But I’ve bowled well there in the past and West Indies are a team I’ve had pretty good success against.”Yes, this England team have lost a lot of cricket matches in recent times and I am not against different mindsets and making changes. Yes, we do need to question a lot of things, but surely you must play your best players to win Test matches.”Broad also revealed he had been in regular contact with Anderson, “mainly planning golf trips because we’ve suddenly had some unexpected time free up”. He said his focus would turn back to cricket only when he had decided whether to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Strauss and the selectors.”And one thing I have made a conscious effort to avoid is shutting myself away. I’ve got out for little runs, and they have made me feel better. What I don’t want to do, though, is pick up a cricket ball for a couple of weeks. I will do so when I have decided whether to jump at the latest challenge set for me.”

Australia’s final-session target was never realistic but they had some nerves avoiding the follow-on in the pink-ball fixture

Annesha Ghosh03-Oct-2021Fifteen years elapsed before the pink-ball Test pitted Australia against India again in the longest format. A fixture that kicked off with Meg Lanning winning her fourth consecutive toss of the multi-format series and sending the visitors in on Carrara Oval’s drop-in surface, witnessed three declarations, two on the final day alone, as the curtains came down on India’s astonishingly remarkable debut in day-night Tests, stretching their unbeaten streak in multi-day cricket to six matches.The debate whether women’s Tests should have a fifth day, as was the bone of contention during and after the riveting England-India drawn Test earlier this year, gathered further topicality in the wake of rain eating into the bulk of the overs on the first two days. With only one Test in the women’s game ever having been a five-day fixture and seven out of 142 women’s Tests ever having had three declarations, as opposed to six out of 2,433 in men’s Tests, the debate for an additional day will likely rage on as Australia gear up to host England for the multi-format Ashes early next year.India, for their part, can only play the guessing game, as they did through the seven years until June when they remained absent from longest format, as to when they might put on the whites again. Equally, whether they’ll see their captain, Mithali Raj, and Jhulan Goswami, their standout bowler from the pink-ball fixture in which her battle with opener Alyssa Healy lit up the last two evenings, take the field again in a Test match remains anybody’s guess.Related

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Before Lanning offered Raj the draw at the drinks break in the closing session on Sunday, Goswami and Pooja Vastrakar had taken out Australia’s openers, Healy and Beth Mooney, inside 10 overs. By the time the captains shook hands, with Lanning delivering a congratulatory word to first-innings centurion and Player of the Match Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry added yet another unbeaten Test innings to her name, albeit a 14-ball 1, having made 213*, 116, 76*, and 68* earlier on Sunday, in her four most-recent outings in the format.Only when seven overs into the final session, with No. 4 Punam Raut having begun hitting the next gear in her unbeaten 41, did India declare, barely dangling before Australia the carrot of four points for an outright victory, setting them 272 to chase in 32 overs. This, after Ashleigh Gardner spiced up an evenly poised – though eventually ineffectual – second session, having plucked a blinder in the deep, inches off the ground, to remove Mandhana and break a 70-run opening stand. It wouldn’t be long before Gardner gave Australia their second wicket, bowling first-drop Yastika Bhatia. India, nonetheless, largely remained unhurried in their approach despite Shafali Verma’s third Test fifty in four innings.Ashleigh Gardner took a brilliant catch in the deep•Getty Images

India’s second innings followed an action-filled opening session as Perry’s charmed life continued with her becoming the first Australian woman to score four straight Test fifties. Perry, who took her 300th international wicket on day three, struck an unbeaten 203-ball 68, helping the hosts weather a scintillating swing-bowling burst with the second new ball and escorted them past the follow-on score of 228. A collapse of 5 for 32, including the fall of the ninth wicket shortly before dinner break, saw Lanning declare on 241 for 9, with Australia still 136 behind.Dropped on 58 and 61 on day four, having survived on 2 and 8 during a nervy session under lights the previous night, Perry boosted her Test average to 86.62 – the best ever in women’s Tests for a player to have batted at least 10 innings. She built on her overnight score of 27 with an attacking approach from as early as the first ball of the session, even in the face of Goswami’s mostly flawless charge in the corridor of uncertainty.Facing an overnight deficit of 85 to avoid follow-on, Perry found able support in Gardner, who was dropped on 20 by a diving Vastrakar at gully off Rajeshwari Gayakwad. The left-arm spinner had had three previous chances shelled in the series, and remained wicketless across three innings while Perry and Gardner punished anything short and wide that came their way. In a commanding display of back-foot strokeplay, bejeweled with an assortment of cuts, the duo steered Australia from 119 for 4 to 208 for 5.Such was their prowess that to intercept the cut, India inserted Raut in the close-in position between gully and silly point in the 18th over of the day. Gardner, in response, whipped Gayakwad past short midwicket for two runs that took her to a maiden Test fifty, the first by an Indigenous Australian woman. She would, however, last just another six balls. Driving a loopy offbreak uppishly to mid-off, Gardner perished off Deepti Sharma, Raj taking a good low catch.India took the new ball at the 80-over mark, and their three-pronged pace attack found their day-two mojo back soon, moving the ball both ways off the seam. The scoreboard could have read 219 for 8 had Deepti not shelled a sharp chance off Meghna Singh at gully when Perry was on 58. The debutant, having taken her maiden Test wicket with a peach of an outswinger to Annabel Sutherland, wouldn’t long be away from a second wicket, though. She nipped back the next ball into the left-hander Sophie Molineux and had her trapped in front.Vatsrakar then took out Georgia Wareham before No. 10 Darcie Brown’s first scoring shot in Tests, a four through extra cover, took Australia past the follow-on mark. Deepti had Brown caught lbw four balls before dinner.After debutant Stella Campbell faced her first delivery in Test cricket, Lanning sprung the declaration somewhat surprisingly. A draw, however, predictably remained the likeliest result through the best part of the day. The teams eventually took home two points each, the lead 6-4 in Australia’s favour heading into the three-match T20I leg.

Saha is in the Test squad for India’s upcoming tour of England, while Krishna has been named as a standby

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2021Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra have announced their respective recoveries from Covid-19. Both players had tested positive for the virus on May 4, the same day that IPL 2021 was suspended indefinitely.ESPNcricinfo has understood that Prasidh Krishna, who tested positive on May 8, has also recovered from Covid-19.Related

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Saha is part of the India squad that is due to tour England for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, followed by a five-Test series against the hosts. Krishna is one of the four players named as stand-bys. These two, along with KL Rahul, who has undergone surgery after being diagnosed with appendicitis, had been named in the squad subject to clearing fitness tests.The England-bound India squad is set to begin its pre-departure quarantine in Mumbai on Wednesday, but Saha is expected to join his team-mates later, having received the BCCI’s permission to spend some time with his family in Kolkata. Both Saha and Mishra announced their recoveries via Twitter on Tuesday. Mishra, the Delhi Capitals legspinner, did so while expressing his gratitude to healthcare workers.GMT 1700 The story was updated with the news of Saha and Krishna’s respective recoveries.

Tim Murtagh took 5 for 12 as Derbyshire were blown away for 60 in their second innings to give Middlesex their second win in as many games

Alan Gardner at Lord's19-Apr-2013
ScorecardTim Murtagh wrought havoc in Derbyshire’s second innings as they were dismissed for 60•Middlesex CCC

For six-and-half sessions, Derbyshire sweated and fought their way into the ascendency against a team plenty have tipped as title contenders. The Division One novices, back in the top tier for the first time since 2000, ground out more than they might have got with the bat and then kept hustling with the ball, for a first-innings lead that could have proved decisive in a low-scoring match. They caught a glimpse of the path to a famous Lord’s victory, if only they could hold their nerve. But then, in about the average running time of a movie, as deftly as Keyser Soze springing the coop, “like that, it was gone”.Middlesex now have two wins from two, this comprehensive nine-wicket victory brought about by the usual suspects of their formidable fast-bowling attack, who dismantled Derbyshire in a little over two hours. Skip a session in the top tier and it can hurt you. Tim Murtagh had bowled better than 2 for 68 suggested in Derbyshire’s first innings but he was richly rewarded for pitching the ball up in an unchanged 12-over spell from the Nursery End either side of lunch on Friday. Swing and seam deputised effectively for shock and awe, as Murtagh returned devastating figures of 12-7-12-5.Steven Finn was also appreciably hostile, despite being uppercut for six by Wayne Madsen (he dismissed Derbyshire’s captain next ball), while Toby Roland-Jones made sure the innings disappeared in a suitably dramatic puff of smoke by removing nine, ten and jack in consecutive deliveries to complete the first hat-trick of his senior career. The teams had tugged back and forth on the rope for two days but it took only one sharp jerk to bring Derbyshire down in a heap for their lowest score against Middlesex.It was the sort of bowling display to make Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s director of cricket, puff out his chest with understandable pride, although he admitted his team had “mugged” Derbyshire. “To have won two games out of two is a fantastic start but we can still play better,” he said, ominously for opponents but enticingly for those studying the fixture list: Middlesex’s next game is at home to Surrey in two weeks’ time. “From our perspective that’s the encouraging thing, we have started well, we’re playing some good cricket but we can do better, there’s room for improvement.””I don’t think many counties have won a title in April,” was his good-humoured response to talk of the Championship (which Middlesex last won when Fraser was a player in 1993). “At the start of the season, our goals were to build on what we’ve achieved in the last two years and to establish ourselves as one of the top three or four sides in the country and that remains the case.”When 15 wickets fall in little more than two sessions of cricket, hurrying this game to an unexpected three-day finish, you can be sure that polite questions will be asked about the technique and application of batsmen. In fact, they might not have been so polite in the away dressing room, with only three Derbyshire players getting into double figures. Shivnarine Chanderpaul has seen one or two collapses in his time – he featured in two of West Indies’ five lowest Test scores, including their 54 all out on this ground in 2000 – but his unflustered, two-hour 18 not out was perhaps the archetype of a man keeping his head while all around others were losing theirs.No one was blaming Chanderpaul, of course, and Kipling’s poem “If” also contains that canonical line about treating the imposters of triumph and disaster the same. Karl Krikken, Derbyshire’s coach, will hope his players can do just that, in order to steel themselves for what looks like being a testing season, and although he attempted to shrug off the collapse he was disappointed that a hard-working display had not resulted in a more impregnable first-innings position.”We felt we competed for two days,” Krikken said. “Sides do get bowled out for 60 occasionally, Middlesex bowled well. I don’t think we dealt with it as well as we should have done. But the most disappointing part of it, when you look at the game, we were 130 for 3 in the first innings and you hope from that position you push on to 300. I felt we’d done all the hard work and just let it go. Obviously it’s disappointing to get bowled out for 60 but I felt we had the match in the ascendency on the first day and we took our foot off the pedal.”Of the pressing need for more runs, Krikken said: “Ultimately it’s up to the players to man up with the bat. We’ve had two fifties this year in 33 knocks and it’s just not good enough.” This defeat was certainly a schooling and, in a division where there are several fearsome attacks willing to beat up vulnerable teams behind the bike sheds, Derbyshire will have to learn fast.

Shannon Gabriel and Shane Shillingford spearheaded West Indies A’s defence of a modest total in Grenada and secured a 2-1 series victory against Sri Lanka A

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2013
ScorecardThe pace of Shannon Gabriel and the offspin of Shane Shillingford, both operating with new balls, spearheaded West Indies A’s defence of a modest total in Grenada and secured a 2-1 series victory against Sri Lanka A by a 67-run margin.Defending 196, Gabriel and Shillingford bowled economically and incisively. Shillingford struck first, in the fourth over, and Gabriel dismissed two Sri Lanka A batsmen in the space of four balls in the seventh. By the 14th over, the visitors had been reduced to 43 for 6 – Gabriel and Shillingford taking three each – and there was no recovery. Dilruwan Perera top-scored with 48 to lead his team past 100, but the pace of scoring was so slow that the target was not under threat. Sri Lanka A were dismissed for 129 in the 41st over. Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and fast bowler Jason Holder took two wickets each for West Indies A.The home side also endured difficult moments after they had chosen to bat. They had slipped to 37 for 4 in the 16th over before half-centuries from Andre Fletcher and Devon Thomas steadied the innings. Fletcher made 59 off 95 balls and Thomas 50 off 75, and they added 105 runs for the fifth wicket. Nikita Millar, batting at No. 8, scored 23 off 22 balls to lift West Indies A to 196 for 8. Suranga Lakmal was the pick of the Sri Lanka A bowlers, taking 3 for 28 in ten overs.

First squad of new selection era will test depth of England’s reserves

Andrew Miller18-May-2021Chris Silverwood, England’s head coach, says he is comfortable that the buck now stops with him, after unveiling a 15-man squad for the two-Test series against New Zealand next month – his first since being named as the new supremo of the ECB’s selection process, following the end of Ed Smith’s three-year tenure as national selector last month.Silverwood’s squad includes two uncapped players in James Bracey and Ollie Robinson, and a recall for Somerset’s Craig Overton, but it will be missing both Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer due to injury, as well as the contingent of multi-format players – Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow among them – who flew home from India earlier this month following the postponement of the IPL.However, with England’s busy schedule in 2021 including a five-Test series against India and culminating in an Ashes campaign in Australia, Silverwood has called on the players at his disposal to seize their opportunities in the absence of their more established colleagues, and ensure that England travel Down Under in November with a squad that is brimming with both confidence and experience.Related

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“It’s one thing we’ve talked about, to try and get to the point where we’re not debuting anybody in Australia,” Silverwood said. “It’s been a plan now for a while and we have given different people different experiences, debuted people, got more experience into people, so we’re banking that all the way to the Ashes, really.”To the youngsters who are coming in: ‘Take your opportunity’,” he added. “It’s very simple. For the rest of the guys, it is to find that form and keep working on the game-plan we have, which is very simple – big first-innings runs and then finding a way of taking 20 wickets.”I think we have a great mixture of experience and youth and it’s a great opportunity to keep pushing that game-plan and keep getting better. Not only do we play New Zealand, one of the top nations in the world, but we also have India. It is another opportunity to keep galvanising this team moving forward to the Ashes.”Due to the expanded touring parties required for international cricket in the Covid era, Silverwood is better acquainted with the newer members of his England squad than many coaches before him would have been – which is part of the reason why the ECB deemed Smith’s bespoke role to be surplus to current requirements. And though it means an extra workload for Silverwood, he said he welcomed the clarity that comes with the new arrangement.”Busy is one way of putting it,” he said. “But to be honest, ultimately the buck stops with me anyway, whether the selector was there or just me. If the team underperforms, it is me for the high jump. You have to accept that and I’m at peace with that as well.”What I would not want to do is worry about it because that will stop me making decisions and pushing the team forward, so I’m comfortable with it. It has been busier contacting players and getting the relevant information together that would previously have been done by the chairman of selectors, but I’m happy with where things are at.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bracey’s selection could come to be seen as a test case for Silverwood’s new role. For all that his county form this summer merits a call-up – he has made 478 runs at 53.11 to date in Gloucestershire’s rise to the top of the Group 2 standings – most of his progress towards a Test debut has been made from within the England set-up, be it with the Lions in Australia two winters ago, or during his diligent hours of training in the bio-secure Test environment for the past year.”There is a lot of downside [to bio-secure squads], but one of the upsides is I have spent so much time with players I would not usually see much of, and Bracey is one of those,” Silverwood said. “He applied himself through last summer and this winter, when he was on the fringes and further away from playing than he would have liked, and his attitude in helping the squad and improving has been exceptional.”When Bracey was called into England’s 55-man training squad last summer, he was a relative unknown who had averaged in the mid-30s in each of his previous two seasons for Gloucestershire. Since returning to his county, however, he has shown the value of being hot-housed in an elite environment, a point that Silverwood was keen to recognise.”We have seen him come back from those experiences a better player, and I have no doubt if he were to play in the first Test, he will give himself the best chance of success,” Silverwood said. “He is a quick learner, whatever situation we put him in, and he will move forward and take the opportunity with both hands.”It can only help, having the best players in the world around you, and arguably some of the best coaches, and exposed to different conditions as well,” Silverwood added. “They learn a lot from each other. You listen to guys talking at nets, and the experiences they share when it comes to playing different deliveries. If you are being exposed to that you can only be better if you go with your eyes open.””Bracey is just one example. Look at the spinners who have come back this summer,” Silverwood added, referencing the likes of Matt Parkinson, who has taken 19 wickets at 19.21 so far for Lancashire, and Dom Bess, who bounced back from a tough tour with a matchwinning five-for for Yorkshire at Hove. “They have all been involved somewhere and been successful in their own right. The investment in players this winter has been very rewarding.”In the absence of Stokes, as well as Woakes, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran, the other recognised allrounders in England’s Test set-up, the issue of team balance will be a pressing one for Silverwood. But with Overton and Robinson both very capable batters in their own rights, he’s confident that England will have the depth to withstand one of the world’s leading seam attacks, as well as the firepower to make inroads of their own.”I’ve selected a squad that gives me every option, to be honest,” Silverwood said. “You lose a Woakes, a Curran or a Stokes, it does make it very difficult to balance a side. But the two of them [Overton and Robinson] are very capable with the bat and will give us those options around seven or eight, which is what we need really.”I think the two of them are competing with each other realistically,” he added. “They have done exceptionally well this summer, hence they are both in the squad. It is difficult to split the two of them on their performances and I can’t fault their attitude on the field in the games and what I’ve seen of them. They are fantastic cricketers with opportunities in front of them.”Amid all the rhetoric about peaking for the Ashes, there is an obvious danger for England in facing India and New Zealand this summer. They are, after all, the two best Test teams in the world, to judge by their places in next month’s World Test Championship final. Silverwood, however, insisted that the processes put in place since he and Joe Root took control of the team’s Test fortunes two years ago were robust enough to cope with such a relentless set of challenges.”We want to travel to Australia, fitter, faster, leaner, more ready than ever before, and they get off the plane and it is ‘right we’re here, we mean business and we’re full of confidence’,” he said. “But the here-and-now is part and parcel of the gradual process of getting to the Ashes.”We talk a lot about what it’ll look like when we get to the Ashes, but that game-plan has to be practised and instilled in the India series, the New Zealand series. It’s a continuation of working on the game-plan and getting people in a good space, making sure they have banked plenty of Test experience before they arrive there.”We have the greatest respect for our opposition. We have two great Test teams here. To get to where we want to be against Australia, we have to perform well and carry that respect into these Tests as well.”

Queensland cricket is in mourning over the loss of the state’s long-time chief executive Graham Dixon, who succumbed to brain cancer on Saturday night at the age of 61 after a battle lasting more than a year.

Daniel Brettig29-Jul-2013Queensland cricket is in mourning over the loss of the state’s long-time chief executive Graham Dixon, who succumbed to brain cancer on Saturday night at the age of 61 after a battle lasting more than a year.Highly regarded among players, coaches and administrators for his tireless work and good sense, Dixon had formally stood down as CEO only a month ago. Starting work at the Gabba as the state’s general manager in 1991 then replacing Barry Richards as CEO in 1996, his tenure coincided with Queensland’s rise from years of frustrated ambitions to an era of unrivalled domestic success.The Queensland chairman Jim Holding said Dixon had left a major imprint on the game in the state. “Graham was Queensland Cricket to many people during his time.” Holding said. “He felt a strong sense of duty towards the organisation, which meant he set the tone when it came to imposing high standards and meeting or eclipsing them.”His dedication to developing our headquarters at Allan Border Field will be a lasting legacy while the friendships and networks he forged with current and past players, fellow administrators, employees, delegates, government at all levels and the grassroots will stand QC in good stead for years to come.”His actions endorsed his words too. I don’t know of too many CEOs who would, almost without fail, be up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning to go down to Deagon to help take the covers off the pitches and assist with preparing the grounds for the day’s play. Likewise, he was very modest about his own standing and stature in our game, deflecting praise and actively avoiding the spotlight to allow it to shine on those that had ‘earned’ it, as he would observe.””As a group, we will miss his counsel, his generosity, his willingness to embrace innovation and think laterally. He enjoyed a challenge and his determination to achieve the ‘right’ result will be a loss to the game.”Since claiming their first Sheffield Shield in 1995, Queensland have won no fewer than seven titles, plus five domestic limited overs crowns. And Brisbane Heat won last summer’s second edition of the Twenty20 Big Bash League.That success could not have arrived without Dixon’s assiduous work to establish a strong and stable association, including numerous key appointments such John Buchanan as state coach before the first Shield was won, and in more recent times Darren Lehmann to coach the state, a role that catapulted him towards the national job he now holds.James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, also offered a warm tribute. “Graham came to cricket administration at a local level while still in his teens, had a lengthy career as a club player and went on to be a respected state cricket association CEO through an important era for Queensland cricket,” he said. “He was also a thoughtful and respected voice at the national cricket table when CA, state and territory cricket association CEO’s regularly came together.”Graham was strongly pro-Queensland but he also contributed strongly to the national reform debate that has seen Australian cricket increasingly think and act as a national game.”