All posts by n8rngtd.top

England have announced their XI and Sri Lanka could also make a couple of changes as they seek a consolation win

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo22-Nov-2018In his fifth Test in charge, Suranga Lakmal has perhaps his greatest leadership challenge yet. When he led Sri Lanka to wins against West Indies and South Africa, he largely had his first-choice attack at his back, and was up against opposition that appeared seriously vulnerable.England, though, are a much sterner test. They know how to bat in spinning conditions – much better than Sri Lanka had imagined. They also have batting all the way down to No. 8, which presents a daunting challenge for any fielding captain.”The England batsmen are playing really well at the moment,” Lakmal said. “If you look at the world, the next best players of spin after India are England. Their batsmen don’t let our spinners bowl in one spot to them. They sweep in both directions – the normal sweep and the reverse. They do that from the first ball of their innings. That’s something we should learn from when we play in Sri Lanka in the future as well.”Among the weaknesses Lakmal must address in this Test is Sri Lanka’s propensity to give runs away to England’s lower order. The hosts had had the opposition at 103 for 5 and 134 for 5 in each of the first innings of the last two Tests, before going on to concede 342 and 285 (with five penalty runs added to the latter). In Pallekele, England’s last-wicket partnerships were worth 60 and 41.Sri Lanka’s best chance of curbing this trend, Lakmal hinted, was for him to bowl himself more often at England’s lower order batsmen.”Their top five are always trying to score runs quickly. After that they start to understand the pitch and start playing the spinners better. They also have a good batting line-up. But we can’t be making spinning pitches and letting their tail get runs. We have a plan to stop them. We gave the spinners a lot of overs at the tail in the previous games because the pitch suited them. But as a seam bowler, maybe there will be a change in this match.”Not making Lakmal’s job any easier are the non-performing members of the batting line up. Kaushal Silva has made four modest scores, and is likely to be replaced by Danushka Gunathilaka. Niroshan Dickwella has been skating by on shaky batting performances himself, but survives in the XI because of his wicketkeeping. Kusal Mendis has also been poor in the last five Tests, now having gone 10 innings without a fifty. As he is thought of as the man around whom Sri Lanka’s future top order may pivot, though, the selectors and captain appear happy to keep him around.”In the last little while when we’ve won Tests, he’s a player who has contributed to those performances in a big way,” Lakmal said. “As a captain, Kusal is definitely in my team. Dinesh Chandimal is out, and a lot of the batsmen don’t have a lot of experience. He was among the runs until recently – it’s only in the last six or seven games that he’s failed.”He’ll play in this game, because the next tours are important as well. We’re going to New Zealand soon. We can’t drop him for this match and bring him back for that game, because then he will fall even more mentally. What we’re looking to do is to try to carry the players who aren’t performing and try and get them into a better state. Mendis is a valuable player both now and into the future.”

The spinner has said leading Kings XI Punjab is an “opportunity to showcase” his captaincy skills and be “innovative”

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Feb-2018R Ashwin has made bolder statements on Twitter, but on Monday he said the responsibility of leading Kings XI Punjab is an “opportunity to showcase” his captaincy skills and be “innovative”.

KL Rahul to keep wickets for Kings XI

One pertinent question about Kings XI Punjab after the auction in January was if they had an experienced wicketkeeper. Kings XI team director Virender Sehwag answered that question on Monday, saying Indian batsman KL Rahul will be the team’s first-choice keeper. Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Akshdeep Nath will be the back-up option if need be.
Sehwag pointed out that his captain R Ashwin had already spoken to Rahul many times and he had indicated he would be happy to do the job. “Yes, we don’t have a flamboyant wicketkeeper like a [Adam] Gilchrist or MS Dhoni. But we will make do with what we have because winning is more important this year.”

Having been led all his IPL life by MS Dhoni, Ashwin, now 31, said being named captain was one of the “memorable days” in his life. “I will definitely give my best and have a lot of fun and we will try and play really exciting kind of cricket this year,” Ashwin said in a Facebook chat with Kings XI team director Virender Sehwag.Sehwag revealed that there were two players he had earmarked as captains before going into the IPL auction. Both are current Indian players, both with the experience of leading Tamil Nadu, and both good friends. One was Ashwin and the second was Dinesh Karthik, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders.Thirty-six-year old allrounder Yuvraj Singh, Sehwag pointed out, was one of the other potential candidates for the captaincy, but keeping the age factor in mind, the Kings XI management preferred Ashwin as a “long-term” choice.Sehwag said Ashwin “would do wonders” and lead Kings XI into the playoffs. Sehwag admitted that he was a big fan of bowler captains like Kapil Dev, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and Ashwin had similar potential to influence Kings XI.”The best quality in Ashwin is he is very smart,” Sehwag said during the live chat. “He understands this T20 format better than anybody else. He used to bowl in Powerplay, he used to bowl in slog [overs], so he knows what to do in T20 format.”Ashwin pointed out one of his strengths was to be “innovative and change things up”. Despite the leadership inexperience, Ashwin said he would rely on seniors like Yuvraj and Chris Gayle in addition to Sehwag to help with his job. Ashwin said that Yuvraj, a former Kings XI captain himself, would be the “lynchpin” and the go-to man.”For me, it is all about Yuvi trying to go out there and entertain the fans. It is very important we play an aggressive brand of cricket. And as far as I’m concerned, I would love to see him play freely and hit those big shots. I’m looking to give him as many overs as possible. I think he will be one of the best batsmen in our team.”Part of Ashwin’s plans is also to reinvigorate the “pie chucker” in Yuvraj. One of the marquee players in the IPL, Yuvraj has hardly bowled in the recent past. He has bowled only 10 overs in the last 10 completed ODIs he has played since returning to the one-day side in January 2017. In T20Is, he sent down only 17 overs in 18 matches since the beginning of 2016. And in IPL 2017, he bowled a mere two overs in 12 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad.However, Ashwin pointed out that Yuvraj was one of the only two frontline batsmen (along with Rohit Sharma) to have taken a hat-trick in IPL. “More than anything else, I would love to see the pie chucker in Yuvi . One of my strong points is to try and be innovative and try and change things up. And Yuvi will be a very, very internal part of our team. He will be a very big lynchpin for me to try and go for sort of advice on the field.”The pie chucker in him is somebody that I really like. Many great batsmen including the likes of Kevin Pietersen couldn’t play him properly. We can utilise that and get a few big wickets this time.”Two other allrounders, both Sehwag and Ashwin agreed, who would play a prominent role in Kings XI’s performance would be Axar Patel and Marcus Stoinis. But there was one other name that Ashwin personally singled out.As soon as Ashwin was bought, Sehwag revealed one of his “demands” was that Kings XI bought Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb Zadran, who was bought for INR 4 crores (USD 625,000). “He could well be that X-factor we are looking for, but having said that, he is a young guy and I really look forward to look (at) him up close,” Ashwin said.Mujeeb is only 16 years old, but has already earned a national cap for Afghanistan and is currently in Zimbabwe for the World Cup Qualifiers. Sehwag was cautious in hyping up Mujeeb’s importance only because he was too young. “Do not expect the X-factor (Zadran) will play all the matches. He will only play a few matches because he is only 16. He will take a lot of time to learn and gain experience.”When asked by Sehwag what his first XI would be, Ashwin said he had a “problem of plenty.””You’ve got Chris Gayle, you ‘ve got Aaron Finch, both of whom can open the batting. Aaron Finch is batting lower down the order for Australia, that is some sort of an option which we can look to create. Generally, combinations with decent number of foreign bowlers and foreign batsmen – two and two will be a good combination. But with Stoinis around, we can look at playing three and one (overseas players). One thing you can be sure – I’ll never be predictable.”

Rain is forecast in Colombo, and the teams must prepare themselves for what could be a stop-start contest

The Preview by Mohammad Isam13-Mar-2018

Big picture

The Nidahas Trophy hasn’t produced ground-breaking cricket yet but it has certainly provided a lot of drama. Even though India won comfortably against Sri Lanka on Monday, there was always a sense of tension that one more wicket could open up the game. Bangladesh provided their share of drama too over the weekend.What could tilt the next battle, between India and Bangladesh, could be confidence. Whichever side can retain belief within themselves could come out on top on the day.India have plenty of happy faces in their team after the hard-fought win over the home side. Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik finished off the tricky chase quietly, after Suresh Raina’s 15-ball 27 had stirred up the ground. The experienced Raina could have played himself in, given that India had already lost captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, but he did the exact opposite.Among the bowlers, too, India have much confidence. Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal varied their pace well, and so did Shardul Thakur who finished with four wickets. Jaydev Unadkat and Vijay Shankar played supporting roles.Bangladesh must have a buzzing dressing room too, having won in dramatic fashion against Sri Lanka. The fact that their previous highest successful chase was 166 has made the chase of 215 all the more special. Liton Das started in fine style before Tamim Iqbal took over the baton. Then Soumya Sarkar struck a few timely blows and Mushfiqur Rahim took over, finishing with an unbeaten 72 off 35 balls with some help from Mahmudullah.Bangladesh’s bowling could do better, however. Mehidy Hasan and Nazmul Islam will once again need to slow things down while Mustafizur Rahman and Rubel Hossain have to bowl well in the Powerplay and slog overs. Taskin Ahmed may have to give away his place after being below par.

Form guide

India: WWLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: WLLLL

In the spotlight

Shardul Thakur has used the knuckle-ball to great effect against Sri Lanka, picking up his first four-wicket haul in T20Is. He will once again have to ace those change-ups in the crucial overs, especially if the match is shortened by rain.Mustafizur Rahman has played the most T20s among the Bangladeshi bowlers in 2018, which means there remains a lot of dependence on him. He has taken four wickets in the Nidahas Trophy so far but was unable to stem the flow of runs against Sri Lanka.Associated Press

Team news

India made only one change in the previous game, replacing Rishabh Pant with KL Rahul, and barring any last-minute injuries, they are likely to go with the same XI.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 KL Rahul, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Vijay Shankar, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Jaydev UnadkatBangladesh are unlikely to change their winning line-up but there are strong question marks next to Sabbir Rahman and Taskin Ahmed after the Sri Lanka game. Ariful Haque and Abu Jayed could be options to consider.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Liton Das, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mahmudullah (capt), 6 Sabbir Rahman/Ariful Haque, 7 Mehidy Hasan, 8 Mustafizur Rahman, 9 Taskin Ahmed/Abu Jayed, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Nazmul Islam

Pitch and conditions

Rain continues to be forecast in Colombo, with Bangladesh already talking about being mentally prepared for a stop-start game. The pitch is likely to remain the same, mostly batting-friendly.

Stats and trivia

• In Monday’s game against Sri Lanka, KL Rahul became the first Indian batsman to be out hit wicket in a T20I.
• Despite career economy rate of 9.74, Rubel Hossain remains one of the most reliable bowlers in T20s for Bangladesh.

Quotes

“The Indian bowlers made a lot of change of pace, especially their spinners. They found turn when they bowled it very slow. The pace bowlers have taken off the pace from the ball. We need to keep an eye on these things.”

A hundred for Asad Shafiq and fifties for Haris Sohail and Babar Azam moved Pakistan into a dominant position on the second day against Northampton

Alex Winter in Northampton05-May-2018
Asad Shafiq keeps an eye on the movement of the ball•Getty Images

After so little first-class cricket in the past 12 months, batting practice is what Pakistan are most in need of before the opening Test of their UK tour that begins on Friday. They were handed a perfect chance on a golden second day in Northampton and Asad Shafiq took advantage of the conditions – as well as two dropped catches – to make his 20th first-class century and hand his side a sizeable lead by the close.Shafiq has not only the second-highest number of Test caps in the Pakistan squad but has played more first-class cricket than most of the touring party in recent months. By complete contrast, before last week’s match at Kent, Haris Sohail’s last domestic first-class match was all the way back in 2014. The pair shared a stand of 136 for the third wicket to set the day up for their side.As preparation for the Test matches to come, this has been a true assignment for the tourists and they were kept in check for two-thirds of the day. Northamptonshire took two early wickets and had Shafiq been held by Ricardo Vasconcelos in the gully on just 13 – a sitter straight to the fielder at chest height – Pakistan would have been 70 for 3 and three of their top order left with successive failures to begin the tour.But the partnership steadily built either side of lunch. Sohail, despite – or perhaps because of – his recent experience being almost exclusively against the white ball, was initially the more fluent of the pair. He began with a back-foot punch and a front-foot drive through extra cover before skipping down to Rob Keogh’s offspin to lift another boundary over mid-off. And after being struck a nasty blow on the neck ducking a Gareth Wade short ball that didn’t get up, he went through to fifty in 107 balls with seven fours.A century loomed for Sohail but he produced a leading edge to point trying to flick Keogh over midwicket against the spin. Steven Crook took a smart diving catch and should have taken Shafiq’s top-edged sweep diving in the opposite direction next ball. But the second chance Shafiq offered went down and he was left to dominate the day.Shafiq made 363 runs at 30 in Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy last season without a century but here took his chance to reach three figures. He slog-swept his second six off Keogh before clipping the same bowler to long-on to raise fifty in 98 balls. A steer behind point moved Pakistan into the lead shortly after tea before a fine sweep brought up his century, Pakistan’s first of the tour.Later, just when Northants had ambitions to limit the deficit after three wickets with the second new ball, Shafiq took three boundaries in an over off Wade with a leg glance, a fierce pull and an uppercut over cover.But the innings of the day belonged to Babar Azam, who breathed life into a sleepy afternoon with a bright, punchy 57. Azam already has seven ODI centuries and could become one of world batting’s stars. Three of his first four scoring strokes were boundaries and as he cut Luke Procter wide of third man to raise fifty in just 61 balls with six fours, the day began to drift from Northants. One hundred and forty three runs came in 33 overs after tea as the lead approached three figures and Pakistan achieved the solid batting day they had hoped for.It did not appear that would necessarily be the case as both opening batsman failed. Imam-ul-Haq, having scratched around for 60 deliveries for only 11 runs, was beaten on the inside edge by Keogh to be trapped lbw and Azhar Ali, the most experienced member of the Pakistan squad, fell lbw to Wade. The wicket was just Wade’s second in first-class matches, having missed the majority of last season with a stress fracture of the back. He said he enjoyed the challenge of bowling to a high-class batting line up but it was a challenge successfully met by Shafiq, Sohail and Babar.

“We have to take responsibility,” Charith Asalanka says of Dasun Shanaka and himself after they fell off back-to-back deliveries at a crucial stage of the game

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Sep-20251:39

What went wrong for Sri Lanka’s batters?

The back-to-back wickets in the eighth over of Sri Lanka’s innings swung this Asia Cup Super Four match towards Pakistan – this was how Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka, who was the first of the two batters to be dismissed in that passage, saw it.Sri Lanka had been 58 for 3 after 7.1 overs, when Asalanka was caught at deep square-leg off the bowling of Hussain Talat. Next ball, Dasun Shanaka poked at a delivery in the channel and sent a thin edge to the wicketkeeper. Sri Lanka were suddenly five down with more than 60% of the overs remaining. The limped to 133 for 8 in the end.”Although we didn’t get a great start from the openers, at the end of the powerplay we still had 53 runs. We’d lost three wickets, but we were still in a good place, because it’s not easy to score that many in the powerplay,” Asalanka said. “But then myself and Dasun got out off successive deliveries, and that was when the biggest damage was done.Related

• Abrarcadabra – the four-over spell that left Sri Lanka stupefied

• Talat: Middle-order batting the hardest job in T20s

• Nawaz and Talat trump Sri Lanka in nervy chase

“Neither Dasun or I were going for big shots when we got out. I was trying to put the ball into a gap, but ended up top-edging it. Dasun also played a normal shot first up. But we have to take responsibility.”That Sri Lanka managed to have something to bowl at was down to Kamindu Mendis, who hit 50 off 44 balls, with support from Wanindu Hasaranga and Chamika Karunaratne.”We lost five wickets in the first half of our innings, and against these kinds of teams it’s really hard to come back from that,” Asalanka said. “Kamindu and the others fought hard, but Wanindu also got out at a bad time, when it had felt like we could get to 150. In the end it was not enough.”Sri Lanka are very nearly out of the tournament now, having suffered two big losses in the Super Four stage. They had strengthened their bowling for this match, dropping Kamil Mishara for Karunaratne. Asalanka identified balancing his team as perhaps the primary problem facing Sri Lanka ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup.”We’ve had lots of issues with our combinations, and that’s something we have to get right ahead of the World Cup,” he said. “We tried going with an extra bowler today, but we lost a specialist batsman because of that, and didn’t score the runs we needed. Other times we’ve played an extra batsman and couldn’t defend a score with the ball.”We need to figure out how to consistently score 180 to 200, and also how to use the part-time bowlers – myself, Dasun, Kamindu Mendis – better. Those are things we need to improve in the future.”

Zimbabwe likely to miss T20 World Cup Qualifer after becoming the first Full Member to be hit with suspension

Liam Brickhill18-Jul-2019Zimbabwe have been suspended from the ICC with immediate effect. ICC funding to Zimbabwe Cricket has been frozen, and representative teams from Zimbabwe will not be allowed to participate in any ICC events while under suspension, making Zimbabwe’s participation in the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in August and Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in October highly unlikely.After several rounds of meetings in London this week, the ICC Board unanimously decided that Zimbabwe Cricket was in breach of Article 2.4 (c) and (d) of the ICC Constitution, and that the actions of the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) in suspending the board in June constituted government interference in Zimbabwe Cricket’s affairs.”We do not take the decision to suspend a Member lightly, but we must keep our sport free from political interference,” ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar said. “What has happened in Zimbabwe is a serious breach of the ICC Constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked.”ESPNcricinfo understands that a major part of the ICC’s reasoning in blocking funds to ZC was that it was concerned the money might be diverted to the Zimbabwe government instead of being utilised for the development of cricket and the players.Zimbabwe is in the midst of an economic crisis, with inflation figures increasing exponentially and price increases at a 10-year high as government coffers empty. According to an official who attended the meetings this week, since the ICC disburses funds in US dollars to member boards, it feared that the Zimbabwean government would seize the funds and hence the extreme step of barring ZC its funding had to be taken.Zimbabwe’s sanctioning marks the very first time a Full Member has been suspended by the ICC – although Sri Lanka were warned in 2015 by the then ICC chief executive David Richardson that they were at risk of immediate sanction for government interference in their administration. Various Associate Members are currently under suspension, including Nepal. However, Nepal’s national teams have been allowed to continue participating in ICC events during suspension, as had USA during their recent suspension and expulsion period from June 2015 through January 2019.The ICC has directed that the ZC board originally elected in mid-June be reinstated to office within three months, and progress in this respect will be considered again at the next board meeting in October. “The ICC wants cricket to continue in Zimbabwe in accordance with the ICC Constitution,” Manohar added.At least one member of that board will not be taking up a position, however, as Ed Rainsford, the former Zimbabwe fast bowler, released a statement on Thursday through his lawyers indicating that he would decline to accept his nomination.Representatives from both the SRC and Zimbabwe Cricket were heard by the ICC Board this week. Dave Ellman-Brown, the chairman of the SRC-appointed interim committee and a former Zimbabwe Cricket Union chief executive, was in attendance in London, and Tavengwa Mukuhlani took part in the board meeting, seemingly in his official capacity.Mukuhlani, who has played various administrative roles in Zimbabwean cricket at provincial and national level since 2004, had been re-elected as board chairman in those June elections. But that the elections took place at all marked the start of ZC’s conflict with the SRC – officially, at least.Since then, Zimbabwean cricket has been in lockdown – and meltdown. Mukuhlani, acting managing director Givemore Makoni, and the entire board were suspended by the SRC and ZC’s offices were literally locked, with a police detail dispatched to guard the property, “to ensure that no assets or other documents, especially of a financial nature, left the premises,” according to SRC chairman Gerald Mlotshwa.The ICC immediately froze Zimbabwe’s funding upon the suspension of the board in June, and as a result Zimbabwe’s women were unable to take part in a scheduled tour of Ireland. The men’s team, already in the middle of their tour of Netherlands and Ireland, completed their trip and have since returned to Zimbabwe.A member of the touring squad confirmed that players had not been paid match fees or salaries for the tour, and that “everything” has been frozen. ESPNcricinfo understands that the ICC will leave the question of player welfare to ZC while they are under suspension.

The players are owed three months’ salary and match fees from their tour of Sri Lanka last July and have already opted not to train ahead of the tri-series with Australia and Pakistan as a first sign of protest

Firdose Moonda04-Jun-2018Zimbabwe’s players have given their board an ultimatum to pay outstanding salaries and match fees by June 25, failing which they will boycott July’s T20 tri-series with Australia and Pakistan.The cricketers are owed three months’ salary and match fees from their tour of Sri Lanka last July and have already opted not to train ahead of the tri-series as a first sign of protest. New interim coach Lalchand Rajput is expected to arrive in Zimbabwe on June 10 but it may be to the sight of empty nets.Zimbabwe are also due to host Pakistan for five ODIs later in the year but the fate of those matches has not come under the spotlight yet.In a bid to revive their union, last seen in 2015, the players have appointed lawyer Gerald Mlotchwa to be their spokesperson. However, several sources have revealed they do not know whom Mlotchwa will be negotiating with since the board has failed to appoint a new managing director following Faisal Hasnain’s depature at the end of April.A ZC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo that a solution to this situation is nearly at hand. “Due to a very difficult financial situation beyond its control, ZC has been unable to meet some of its obligations, including paying player and staff salaries in time. However, because this is a matter of top priority, ZC has been working round the clock to address the challenge and, as promised to the players by our chairman, ZC expects to start processing payments this week.”However, many insiders remain skeptical. ZC is as cash-strapped as ever, with debts in the region of USD 19 million. It is expecting an ICC payout in July but that may come too late to meet the players’ demands.To secure the payout, ZC needed to see the domestic season to a close. The board suspended it in January to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers but it resumed in April – even though several national players chose not to take part over unpaid salaries – so that Zimbabwe could meet its Full Member requirements.”It’s a complete joke at the moment,” one player told ESPNcricinfo. “ZC made out as though some players were injured to save face. They didn’t bother that the big-name players weren’t available, they just needed to get the games out of the way. No-one knows how things will work going forward”Late on Monday afternoon, ZC attempted to provide some direction, announcing the acquisition of Vince van der Bijl, the former South African fast bowler who was the ICC’s umpires and referees manager, as a consultant with immediate effect. In a release, ZC said van der Bijl’s appointment was part of a “major initiative by ZC to restructure its domestic and international cricket.”

43-year-old and 17-year-old the standout picks ahead of next month’s tournament

Matt Roller15-Jul-2025James Anderson will play in the Hundred for the first time this summer after earning a ‘wildcard’ contract with Manchester Originals, while 17-year-old Rocky Flintoff has been picked by his father Andrew’s Northern Superchargers despite never having played a professional T20 match.Anderson, who turns 43 this month, returned to T20 cricket this year after an 11-year absence and has taken 14 wickets in eight appearances for Lancashire in the Vitality Blast, operating as a new-ball specialist. He initially went unselected in March’s Hundred draft but will now play for the Originals in August after he was picked up in Tuesday’s ‘wildcard’ draft on a £31,000 deal.Flintoff’s selection will raise eyebrows given he is yet to play in the Blast and his father is Superchargers head coach. But he has already shown his obvious promise with a century for England Lions in Australia this winter and a recent hundred for England’s Under-19s against India.Rocky Flintoff will play under his father Andrew at Northern Superchargers•ECB via Getty Images

Elsewhere, Southern Brave became the first team to sign an overseas player as a wildcard – Australia’s Hilton Cartwright – after replacing Faf du Plessis with Jason Roy last week. They have also picked up the young Hampshire batter Toby Albert, who could keep wicket for them amid injury concerns around Finn Allen and Laurie Evans.Ben Kellaway, the Glamorgan allrounder and ambidextrous spinner, has signed for Welsh Fire after a breakout season at county level, while Ben Sanderson, who has enjoyed his best-ever T20 season for Northamptonshire this year, will play for Trent Rockets.The Rockets took left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson with the first draft pick and have also signed Dillon Pennington as a replacement for the injured John Turner.Yorkshire’s James Wharton and Will Luxton were both overlooked despite their form in the T20 Blast.Esmae MacGregor has signed for Manchester Originals•Getty Images

In the women’s wildcard draft, Esmae MacGregor earned a deal with Manchester Originals after taking 21 Blast wickets for Essex, while Hampshire’s Mary Taylor joins her twin sister Millie at Birmingham Phoenix.The Hundred runs from August 5-31, opening with London Spirit’s double-header against Oval Invincibles at Lord’s.

Men’s Hundred wildcards (all £31,000):

Trent Rockets: Callum Parkinson, Ben Sanderson
Birmingham Phoenix: Liam Patterson-White, Louis Kimber
Welsh Fire: Ajeet Singh Dale, Ben Kellaway
Northern Superchargers: James Fuller, Rocky Flintoff
Manchester Originals: James Anderson, Marchant de Lange
London Spirit: Sean Dickson, Ryan Higgins
Oval Invincibles: George Scrimshaw, Zafar Gohar
Southern Brave: Toby Albert, Hilton Cartwright

Women’s Hundred wildcards (all £10,000):

Birmingham Phoenix: Mary Taylor, Phoebe Brett
London Spirit: Abi Norgrove, Kate Coppack
Manchester Originals: Esmae MacGregor, Darcey Carter
Northern Superchargers: Katherine Fraser, Sophia Turner
Oval Invincibles: Daisy Gibb, Rebecca Odgers
Southern Brave: Phoebe Turner, Amara Carr
Trent Rockets: Grace Thompson, Sophie Morris
Welsh Fire: Charley Phillips, Alex Griffiths.

Glamorgan claim second 50-over title in four seasons after 20-over contest on reserve day

ECB Reporters Network23-Sep-2024The last leg of Somerset’s treble bid went the way of the first two as Glamorgan won a truncated Metro Bank One-Day Cup Final on a gloomy reserve day at Trent Bridge that mercifully stayed dry long enough for them to lift the trophy for the second time in four years.In a match reduced in advance to 20-overs a side after Sunday’s total washout, overhauling Glamorgan’s 186 for 7 proved beyond them as the Welsh county, who beat Durham here to win the 50-over competition in 2021, came out on top by 15 runs, restricting Somerset to 171 for 6.Sam Northeast had anchored the Glamorgan innings with an unbeaten 63, while Billy Root added 39 off 27 balls, both hitting two sixes in a crucial fifth-wicket stand, Timm van der Gugten backing them up with 26 off just nine balls to bookend Will Smale’s 28 from 14 at the top of the innings.Skipper Sean Dickson hammered 44 from just 20 balls after Andy Umeed’s 45 from 36 for Somerset, but after offspinner Ben Kellaway and seamer Andy Gorvin had taken two wickets each, Glamorgan’s Jamie Mcilroy and Dan Douthwaite held their nerve with two fine overs at the death to finish the job.Beaten in the Vitality Blast final and knocked out of the race for the Vitality County Championship in the preceding nine days, the defeat left Somerset empty handed yet again.The only disappointment for the winning team was that their moment of triumph was witnessed in the flesh by only a smattering of spectators on the ground rather than the thousands who had turned up on Sunday.England spinner Jack Leach did not bowl a ball as Somerset opted to rely on five seamers, of whom George Thomas took 2 for 23 and left-armer Alfie Ogborn 2 for 36 from their four-over allocations.Sam Northeast cut loose for Glamorgan•Getty Images

After Sunday’s total washout forced the teams to return for the scheduled reserve day, play mercifully began on time, with the contest sensibly reduced to 20 overs per side even before the toss had been made, in anticipation of more heavy rain due to arrive in early afternoon.Somerset won the toss and opted to bowl as the Trent Bridge floodlights illuminated the misty gloom hanging over the ground.Ogborne took wickets with his third and fourth deliveries, bowling skipper Kiran Carlson before Tom Bevan shovelled tamely to short fine leg, but Glamorgan still put up 39 runs in the first four-over powerplay thanks to Smale’s aggression.Smale raced to 28 from his first 13 balls, living dangerously against Josh Davey with three boundaries over third but striking Ogborne cleanly over mid-on and for six over square leg. The threat he posed was removed when Dickson held a brilliant catch falling backwards at mid-off.After South African Colin Ingram, one of Glamorgan’s trump cards, picked out wide long-on off Thomas for just 11, Glamorgan were 71 for 4 from 10 and needed to find new energy.It came initially from Root, who cleared the rope three times, with Northeast eventually following suit with two of his own, one from a free hit, as Kasey Aldridge’s final over went for a damaging 29. They added 78 in 49 balls before Root was caught behind off Thomas.The next two wickets came quickly as Northeast’s failure to run as he was caught off a no-ball left the big-hitter Douthwaite stranded, before Kellaway sliced to short third, but van der Gugten’s swashbuckling cameo, encompassing four fours and a six off Davey hammered over long-off raised the total to something that looked defendable on a slow pitch.In reply, Somerset had Thomas run out in the third over of a stodgy powerplay and were some way off the pace at 63 for 2 from 10 after Lewis Goldsworthy, who had hit a century in the semi-final to down holders Leicestershire, picked out long-on off Kellaway, although Umeed was beginning to land some blows.A double setback followed as Umeed fell to a superb catch by Smale standing up to Andy Gorvin and James Rew was caught off a top-edged sweep as Kellaway landed his second blow, leaving Somerset 89 for 4 in the 13th and Glamorgan firm favourites.A blistering partnership of 66 in just five overs between Dickson and Archie Vaughan dragged Somerset right back into contention, Vaughan having survived Kellaway’s lbw shout on umpire’s call before he had scored.But after hammering 44 from 20 balls, hitting sixes off van der Gugten (twice) and McIlroy, Dickson reversed Gorvin to short third – from a delivery that might otherwise have been called wide – costing them critical momentum with 32 needed from 15 balls.It came down to Somerset needing 29 from the last two, a task that ultimately proved too much. Douthwaite picked up a wicket when Green heaved in the air to square leg and Vaughan’s boundary off the last ball was academic.

Craig Ervine, batting on 53, holds the key for Zimbabwe, who are 73 runs from their target but have just two wickets in hand going into day five

Abhimanyu Bose05-Jan-2025Ismat Alam’s century on debut and Rashid Khan’s six-for bookended a day of dominance for Afghanistan, who will come back on the fifth and final day needing just two wickets to seal the match and the series against Zimbabwe.Ismat, who had come into the Test with a first-class average of 92 and had converted all four of his fifties at the level into centuries, also converted his maiden Test fifty into a century to help Afghanistan finish on 363, setting Zimbabwe 278 to win.After that, it was all Rashid magic as he ran through Zimbabwe, who fought back with a gritty fifth-wicket stand between captain Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, but in the end Afghanistan were in a winning position at stumps.Zimbabwe had a bright start in their chase of 278. Ben Curran hit two late cuts as Zimbabwe took 12 runs off Fareed Ahmad’s first over. Seven runs came off the next over before the Afghanistan bowlers found more discipline and started to dry out the runs. While there was some movement on offer with the new ball, the fast bowlers could not really threaten the Zimbabwe openers.Spin was introduced in the tenth over in the form of Zia-ur-Rehman and the left-arm spinner struck in his third over. Joylord Gumbie had reverse-swept him for four off the first ball of the over, but when he went for another reverse-sweep he ended up gloving the ball behind to first slip.From there on in, it was the Rashid show for Afghanistan. He first got one to spin in from the rough outside off to knock Curran over. In the next 37 balls, Zimbabwe managed just 14 runs and Takudzwanashe Kaitano released the pressure by authoritatively pulling Fareed for a six over backward square leg.Rashid then changed ends and drew the top edge from Kaitano as he went for a sweep. Abdul Malik ran across from slip to take the catch down the leg side, giving Zimbabwe another breakthrough just before tea.Blessing Muzarabani walks back with his career best innings figures of 6 for 95•Zimbabwe Cricket

In the third over of the final session, Dion Myers slashed at a wide delivery from Rashid and got a thick edge for four, but Rashid hit back by trapping him in front with a wrong’un, for his 400th international wicket.At 99 for 4, Zimbabwe were in trouble but the senior pair of Raza and Ervine combined to frustrate Afghanistan with a 58-run stand. They were watchful and kept the runs ticking with plenty of singles in the absence of close-in fielders. They hit just the one boundary in a partnership that lasted 19 overs.Rashid finally broke through, although it had little to do with his bowling. Raza, ever so watchful until then, was tempted into a drive as Rashid threw down a half-volley outside off, but he couldn’t get it over the cover fielder, much to his frustration.Sean Williams, nursing a back injury from the first day of the Test, was next on Rashid’s radar, as he got another one to spin in from the rough outside off to crash into off stump with Williams missing a sweep. That completed Rashid’s fifth Test five-for in just eight games. One ball later, he darted in a quick, flat legbreak that spun past the outside edge to crash into Brian Bennett’s off stump.In the next over, Zia trapped Newman Nyamhuri, as Zimbabwe lost three wickets in seven deliveries, still 100 runs away from their target.Ervine fought on for Zimbabwe, hitting Rashid for two boundaries either side of the wicket in the next over before depositing Zia over midwicket. He took Zimbabwe past 200 with a cover drive and hit another boundary down the ground – a misfield at long-on that helped him to a second half-century in the match.Soon after, Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Richard Ngarava pulled up holding his calf, and with lights fading, it brought on stumps with Zimbabwe still needing 73 and Afghanistan two wickets from victory.Afghanistan began the day 205 runs ahead and scored quickly with Ismat and Rashid finding the boundary regularly. But the latter failed to get out of the way of a Blessing Muzarabani bouncer and gloved a catch behind to give him his maiden Test five-wicket haul.Ismat carried on, hitting three fours in four overs after Rashid’s dismissal, and went past Ibrahim Zadran’s 87 in 2019 for the highest score by an Afghanistan batter on Test debut. With Zimbabwe spreading the field, he was forced to slow down but with Yamin Ahmadzai for company, he brought up his century and celebrated with a series of fist pumps. The celebrations were worth it after he had fallen for a two-ball duck in his maiden international innings.He fell on 101, miscuing a pull off Muzarabani, after which Afghanistan added just seven runs.