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Michael Richardson scored his maiden first-class hundred as Durham piled up 573 to bat Division One leaders Yorkshire into a tight spot

David Hopps at North Marine Road29-Aug-2013
ScorecardMichael Richardson went to his maiden first-class hundred with a six•Getty Images

Advertising your failings seems to be all the rage in Scarborough. A few miles from the town centre there is a banner proclaiming: “Lodges for hire, no hot tubs.” Proudly flaunting what you don’t have must be a peculiarly Yorkshire phenomenon.Negative advertising would surely have been Yorkshire’s best refuge as the crowd trailed out after Durham made 573 and Michael Richardson produced an entirely unflustered maiden Championship hundred batting: a specialist batsman and wickekeeper in waiting who regularly appears for Durham at No 8.Banners outside North Marine Road stating: “Nothing’s meant to come easy” or “It’s tough up north” would at least have helped to create the impression that it was all part of the grand design, and nothing at all to worry about, as Yorkshire’s bowlers, with the exception of the exemplary Ryan Sidebottom, foundered on a decent batting surface.Yorkshire’s charge to the title, for the time being at least, has stalled. Richardson, son of David Richardson, the ICC chief executive former South Africa wicketkeeper, guided Durham from an overnight 406 for 6, which had been galling enough, to the sort of total which barring something extraordinary has batted Yorkshire out of the game. They still need another 242 with seven wickets left to avoid the follow-on.It was not what most of a crowd of 6000 had come to see and they streamed out early, many heading back to dinner at their seaside guest houses, with troubled expressions. It could only get worse if they were offered a Lebanese starter.Yorkshire, 25.5 points ahead of Durham, who have a game in hand, must steel themselves for the likelihood that they will have to try to spend the last two days batting out time. In the New Zealander Kane Williamson, a late-season overseas acquisition, they have a batsman attuned to such a task, and he remained unbeaten on 76 at the end of the second day. Yorkshire will hope he wins a match during his short stay, but for the moment he can help draw one.Whatever occurs, a Yorkshire recovery or gradual subsiding to defeat, Saturday is unlikely to be too appealing for home supporters. Scarborough is hosting a cycling festival this weekend ahead of the prologue of the Tour de France coming to Yorkshire next summer and it might be a tempting alternative after two days in which Yorkshire’s bowlers might have been climbing Buttertubs Pass.Durham extended their first innings into the afternoon as Richardson neared his century and, although it was logical enough, tactically, spectators on the popular bank became increasingly agitated. He was 77 when he was joined by the last man, Chris Rushworth. Less than five overs later he had his hundred.”Game’s going nowhere, do they want to win or not?” asked one observer to his mate, as Richardson was actually advancing the game at quite a rate. He had already added 86 in 22 overs with Jamie Harrison for the ninth wicket and the follow-on figure was getting more daunting by the minute. Finally, he sallied down the pitch to Williamson’s offspin and hoisted him over long on for a second six – with a foot or two to spare – to reach his hundred. He was last out two balls later, skying Williamson into the leg side.”I wanted to take it out of Rushy’s hands as much as I could,” he said. “I thought I would make it my responsibility and take a few risks rather than just ticking over the strike. I was watching that last six just creep over the fielder’s head. The relief was quite evident because I have been waiting a while to get that hundred.”It could have been worse for Yorkshire. If Paul Collingwood, 74 not out overnight, had joined Mark Stoneman, Ben Stokes and Richardson in reaching 100, it would have been the first time in Yorkshire’s history that they had conceded four hundreds in a Championship innings. They were doubly grateful therefore for Sidebottom’s upheld lbw appeal after Collingwood had added only seven to his overnight score.Yorkshire’s reply, as stoutly as Williamson played, never possessed the same sense of security. Adam Lyth, preferred to Alex Lees, fell in the slip cordon during Rushworth’s new ball spell and Harrison had Andrew Gale lbw after tea. But the instructional comparison was between Adil Rashid, who delivered his leg spin in such a routine manner he might have been stacking supermarket shelves, and his fellow legspinner Scott Borthwick.In such a warm, dry summer, neither has made the impact they might have hoped for – Rashid has 25 wickets at 41.84, Borthwick 20 at 37.40 – and both have enhanced their reputation by achievements with the bat. But Borthwick bowled with more vigour and, if he dragged down short balls now and then, he did seem to be trying to spin the ball. It was this energy which had Phil Jaques caught at short leg in his first over. Durham’s close fielders felt in the game, and in his 25 overs Rashid never achieved that.

Ali de Winter, the Tasmania assistant coach, has been confirmed as the man to replace Craig McDermott as mentor to Australia’s bowlers, after beating Waqar Younis to the job

Daniel Brettig03-Aug-2012Ali de Winter, the Tasmania assistant coach, has been confirmed as the man to replace Craig McDermott as mentor to Australia’s bowlers, after beating Waqar Younis to the job.The choice of de Winter was likely from the moment Waqar confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he had been knocked back for the position, with numerous other potential coaches under contract to other countries or provincial sides.Cricket Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard, coach Mickey Arthur and captain Michael Clarke had taken a close look at de Winter’s ways of working during the recent ODI tour of the UK, on which de Winter impressed with his intelligence and affable nature despite the poor results of the team in losing 4-0 to England.Apart from working out how Australia’s bowlers managed to take only 13 wickets in four completed matches during that series, another of de Winter’s major objectives will be to help preserve Australia’s bowling resources. Injuries have become an unhappy recent tradition, its most recent example having Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Ben Cutting all unable to take part in the current Australia A tour due to physical ailments.”We’re very pleased to have secured Ali’s services for the role from a wide field of international candidates,” Howard said. “Ali presented well on how he would manage the role on a day-to-day basis and has impressed through his work with bowlers such as Ben Hilfenhaus and Jackson Bird in Tasmania, and while he was the interim bowling coach on the recent tour to England.”We feel Ali has skills that will complement those of Mickey Arthur, Justin Langer and Steve Rixon and is well equipped to pick-up on Craig McDermott’s previous good work.”While de Winter’s ascension to the role may be defined as much by those who were not available for it as those who were – the likes of David Saker, Jason Gillespie, Damien Wright and Joe Dawes could not be considered due to their current employment – it should not be forgotten that he only narrowly lost out to McDermott last year.”I don’t think it is too complicated – it’s about having a strong work ethic, building good relationships and doing things like attacking the top of off stump in Test cricket,” de Winter said. “I am particularly excited to get this chance, particularly now as Australia has such a deep pool of fast bowling talent with 10-12 young bowlers featuring at the moment.”There is a great group of young bowlers coming through to complement the experienced names who are also performing well.”Like his fellow Tasmanian bowling coach Troy Cooley, de Winter was a modest first-class bowler, but set about learning how to get the best out of bowlers after his playing days ended. His work with Tasmania has been consistently strong since he became state bowling coach in 2007, resulting in a promotion to be Tim Coyle’s assistant while also coaching the Hobart Hurricanes in last summer’s BBL.He has been closely associated with the success of bowlers including Hilfenhaus, Luke Butterworth and more recently Bird, last summer’s Sheffield Shield player of the year and a member of the Australia A touring side currently in England.Hilfenhaus relied heavily on de Winter to correct flaws in his bowling action that emerged as he favoured an injured knee during 2009 and 2010, resulting in a wretched 2010-11 Ashes series. Reconfigured ahead of last summer, he emerged as one of the most incisive members of the bowling attack that routed India, and gave de Winter much of the credit for his resurgence.”He noticed my action had changed a little bit and realised what we needed to change to get back to where we wanted it. He definitely played a very big role in that,” Hilfenhaus said. “I personally find that he is very good technically to me, he understands the way I bowl pretty well, and he picks up things really easy.”Tactically he is very good as well, but for me personally it is more the technical side of things. I am sure he is having a look at everyone else’s actions as well and trying to find ways to help them improve. If I am doing things technically correct, that will help my chances at the other end, and some other people might be different.”Some people need to be told all these tactics about bowling and these sorts of things, someone like myself I need to be told to keep things technically correct to give myself the best chance to perform my skills. I rate Ali pretty highly and I’m sure once the other blokes have had a bit more to do with him, they’ll say exactly the same thing.”Other bowlers like Pattinson and Peter Siddle benefited greatly from McDermott’s simpler advice and guiding presence beyond the long on fence during Test matches, but by choosing de Winter, CA have decreed their view that he is the best man to carry on the Queenslander’s legacy.

Marcus Trescothick’s fifth career double hundred enabled Somerset to take a stranglehold in their County Championship clash with Worcestershire at New Road

28-Jul-2011
ScorecardMarcus Trescothick’s fifth career double hundred enabled Somerset to take a stranglehold in their County Championship clash with Worcestershire at New Road. With Trescothick’s 203 in nearly six and a half hours underpinned by four individual half-centuries, the west-country side clearly had thoughts on burying Worcestershire under an avalanche of runs.Trescothick’s opening stand of 207 with Arul Suppiah (88) set the stage for remorseless progress to 591 for 9 declared – a lead of 103 and their highest-ever score against Worcestershire. The one tiny flaw was that they missed a fifth batting bonus point by 28 runs
but they go into the final day sniffing a chance of victory with the home side
on 4 without loss after two overs.Somerset’s powerful position developed as Nick Compton (95) completed 1,000
runs in a season for the second time. The former Middlesex batsman put on 151 with Trescothick and 97 with James Hildreth (67) before Craig Kieswetter rammed home their advantage in a post-tea charge to 68 from 73 balls.Worcestershire initially pinned their hopes on Saeed Ajmal getting the ball to turn and, although a profitable final spell gave him figures of 5 for 150 in 51 overs, it was mostly a day of toil. Yet it began well for the Pakistan offspinner with a misjudgment by Suppiah in playing no shot to a ball that did spin sharply. With his off stump taken out of the ground, the opener missed a first championship century of the season after batting for nearly four hours.Trescothick, though, had no intention of passing up the milestones that came his way. Unbeaten on 106 overnight, he went beyond 150 for the 22nd time and then onto his double hundred after facing 293 balls. With most of his 30 boundaries crunched from the full face of the bat, it came as a surprise in mid-afternoon when a six-and-a-half-hour masterclass ended with
a catch at mid-off by Alexei Kervezee.This wicket went to left-arm seamer Jack Shantry and in the next over Worcestershire claimed their only bowling point when Chris Jones played forward to Ajmal and edged to Vikram Solanki at second slip. Hildreth upped the tempo in reaching 50 in 62 balls but the more conservative
Compton hit only seven fours in 240 minutes before he was taken at slip off the second spinner, Moeen Ali.Hildreth’s departure, drilling a catch to short midwicket off ex-Somerset allrounder Gareth Andrew, only turned up the heat on Worcestershire as Kieswetter hit six fours and a six until he became Ajmal’s fifth victim with another catch at slip.

Worcestershire seamers Matt Mason and Alan Richardson dismissed
Northamptonshire for their lowest County Championship total of the season as
17 wickets fell on the second day at New Road

30-Jul-2010

ScorecardWorcestershire seamers Matt Mason and Alan Richardson dismissed
Northamptonshire for their lowest County Championship total of the season as
17 wickets fell on the second day at New Road.The experienced pair – Mason at 36 and Richardson a year younger – made the
most of favourable conditions in claiming six of the dismissals at a miserly
cost of 62 runs in 40.4 overs. Worcestershire’s batsmen then took their turn to struggle on a seaming pitch
when crashing to 72 for 8 – a lead of 201 – after Lee Daggett’s lively
opening salvo of 4 for 25 in 10 overs.Northamptonshire only dodged the follow-on thanks to a couple of dropped
chances when David Murphy (26) and David Lucas (24) put on 43 before Richardson
accounted for the tail-end pair in six balls.Finally bowled out for 158, the visitors were still in a tight corner, trailing
by 129, but Daggett kept them in the game with his best performance in two
seasons for his third county. The former Warwickshire and Leicestershire bowler landed a double blow in the
space of nine deliveries. First he removed Daryl Mitchell, brilliantly caught by
James Middlebrook at backward point, and next he had Vikram Solanki taken at
second slip by Stephen Peters.With David Wheeldon and Moeen Ali also falling in an inspired spell,
Worcestershire were rocking at 43 for 5 when Shakib Al Hasan played on to
Lucas.Alexei Kervezee (24) fell to Andrew Hall and with the light fading prior to an
early closure because of rain off-spinner Middlebrook played an influential part
with 2 for 11. There was an extra problem for the batsmen as the bounce became steeper on the
unpredictable surface.Resuming at three for one, Northamptonshire lost Middlebrook to a catch behind
the wicket in a testing opening spell by Mason and the pressure built up as
Richardson’s figures showed only three scoring shots after 11 overs. Ben Howgego succumbed when Richard Jones ran out the opener from mid-on and Mason found some extra lift when David Sales registered his fourth duck in six Championship innings.Alex Wakely (20) and Rob Newton, with a promising knock of 23 on his debut,
steadied the ship for a while before medium-pacer James Cameron bagged the first
two wickets of his four-match Championship career. Elton Chigumbura quickly fell to another rising delivery from Mason and Northamptonshire’s last hope appeared to have gone when Richardson pounced from
short mid-wicket to run out Hall for 28.Murphy atoned for his part in going for a dodgy single with four fours and the
follow-on threat disappeared in an erratic over from Jones. Shakib dropped Lucas
at point and the next four balls went to the boundary – three of these off the
pads for a dozen leg byes.

Wicketkeeper found first series “mentally draining” but open to additional responsiblity vs Sri Lanka

Matt Roller14-Aug-2024Jamie Smith has revealed that he found his first three weeks as a Test cricketer “mentally draining”, but he is open to shuffling up England’s batting order to No. 6 against Sri Lanka in Ben Stokes’ absence.Smith kept wicket tidily throughout England’s 3-0 clean sweep against West Indies and made two attacking half-centuries down the order: 70 from No. 7 on debut at Lord’s, and 95 from No. 8 at Edgbaston after Mark Wood was deployed as a nightwatcher. And if England opt to replace the hamstrung Stokes with a seamer, Smith could be promoted to No. 6.Related

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“It won’t bother me at all,” he said. “One of the things that’s been great in my career so far is I feel like I’ve batted in a variety of different positions and roles anyway, and I’ve gained some of these experiences. They might be at a lesser level in the County Championship, but I still feel like I’ve been able to adapt and get some experience under my belt – and the difference between No. 7 and No. 6 isn’t a massively great one anyway.”England have opted against calling up a replacement for Stokes, which leaves them with two options as to how they balance their side against Sri Lanka. They could bring in the uncapped Essex batter Jordan Cox at No. 6, leaving them with four frontline bowling options; or they could shift Smith and Chris Woakes up a spot, and replace Stokes with a seamer in Matthew Potts or Olly Stone.Smith has primarily batted at No. 4 in the Championship over the last two seasons – albeit as a specialist batter, with Ben Foakes taking the gloves for Surrey. Keeping wicket contributed to his workload against West Indies, and he admitted that he found Test cricket “more intense” than anything he had experienced previously in his career.Smith made two half-centuries in his first Test series, including 70 at Lord’s on debut•Getty Images

“The games didn’t go five days,” Smith said, “but for me, it was just mentally quite draining. It probably took more out of me than I was expecting, with all the emotions that came with it, the expectation, and a bit of added pressure… It’s been different for me. Mentally and physically, it was quite a lot in three weeks, going from county cricket into that, and with the potential for more stuff to come.”It prompted Smith to ask Birmingham Phoenix, his Hundred team, to miss their match against Southern Brave straight after the third Test. “It was nice to have just an extra week of a breather, basically,” he said. “I was very thankful to Birmingham for allowing that to happen.” He is now back involved as they push for a spot in the knockout stages.The break allowed Smith time to evaluate his first few weeks as a Test cricketer. “It was nice to have a little bit more reflection time,” he said. “It was a successful start, but it’s only just the start. It was nice to get out there and experience it all, and be in an environment which allows you to thrive, and where you can play with good confidence and be yourself.”Playing in the Hundred has also given Smith the chance to continue keeping ahead of the Sri Lanka series. “If I didn’t play in this, I would have had no match practice,” he said. “It will be difficult again going back to the red ball: it brings its own unique challenges when keeping. But there will be enough time to practise that in the lead-up to the series.”Smith made an impressive start to his Test career•Getty Images

Smith made his international debut last September in an ODI series against Ireland and England see him as an all-format player in the long term. But it will be a challenge to manage his workload in the next four months: they have a white-ball series against Australia straight after the Sri Lanka Tests, followed by Test series in Pakistan and New Zealand and a white-ball tour against West Indies sandwiched between them.”It’s in the back of your mind slightly with how busy the schedule is,” Smith said. “There seems to be a bit of a backlog over the next few months. It’s my aspiration to play all formats for England… but you are always looking further down the line on potential workloads, and jumping around series to series is not sustainable for anyone, really, with it being so crammed at the moment.”Smith’s situation is further complicated by the fact that he and his girlfriend are expecting their first child in December, which could affect his availability for some of England’s Test series in New Zealand. “It’s not been massively discussed,” he said. “I’ll just play it by ear… there’s no guarantee that I’ll be selected for anything moving forward anyway.”KP Snacks, the Official Team Partner of The Hundred, is continuing its initiative to build 100 new community cricket pitches across England and Wales, with 35 brand new pitches going down in 2024. To find out more and search for your nearest pitch, click here.

Cites disagreement with SportScotland over attempts to move on from last year’s damning racism report

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2023Cricket Scotland chair Anjan Luthra has announced his immediate resignation after just six months in the role, amid the ongoing fallout from last year’s damning report into racism in the Scottish game.Luthra tweeted a statement on Friday morning in which he expressed his disagreement with the way SportScotland – the body that oversaw his appointment as chair – was looking to run cricket, claiming it was bowing to “the demands of a lobby group and a handful of individuals associated with them – even if that means the wider sport and community will be negatively impacted”.Cricket Scotland was placed into special measures last year after the Changing the Boundaries report found 448 examples of institutional racism in the game.Luthra said in a six-month update earlier in March that progress had been made on diversity, only for his comments to be criticised by anti-racism organisation Running out Racism. According to the BBC, four members of Cricket Scotland’s equality and anti-racism working group subsequently resigned in protest.”Cricket Scotland can announce that Anjan Luthra has resigned as chair with immediate effect,” the board said in a statement. “The organisation thanks Anjan for his hard work and input during his time as chair.”The Changing the Boundaries report, carried out by Plan4Sport, was commissioned after revelations by former players Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, both of whom have been critical of the board’s recent efforts.As well as lacking a chair, Cricket Scotland is also currently without a chief executive, after it was announced that interim CEO Gordon Arthur would be stepping down for personal reasons at the end of April.

India captain wants to use Jadeja “a lot more with the bat”, citing example of his promotion in the T20I series

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Mar-20225:44

Rohit: Jadeja just ups his game every time we see him

R Ashwin is an “all-time great”. Ravindra Jadeja is one of the “top allrounders”. This is what captain Rohit Sharma had to say about India’s two most consistent match-winners at home, after they took 15 wickets between them in the innings-and-222-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Mohali.In the second innings, in which Ashwin took four wickets, he surpassed the tally of Kapil Dev, finishing with 436 Test wickets to Kapil’s 434. This makes Ashwin the second-highest wicket-taker for India, only behind Anil Kumble.”To me, he is already an all-time great,” Rohit said of Ashwin. “He has been playing cricket for the country for so many years, his performances have been so good over the years. He has given many match-winning performances.”Related

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Jadeja, meanwhile, was easily the most impressive cricketer in a one-sided match, hitting 175 not out in the first innings, before grabbing 5 for 41 and 4 for 46, as Sri Lanka batted twice in succession. It was Jadeja’s highest score in Test cricket by a distance. His batting average, which has been on a linear incline since 2017, has also never been higher than 36.46, where he currently sits after that knock.”To me, he is one of the top allrounders,” Rohit said while heaping praise on Jadeja. “Look at the performances: to score 175 not out and take nine wickets in the game, he’s just upping his game every time we see him. He’s very hungry, as you can see. That hunger is something that drives athletes to move forward. When I talk to him about certain things, he is very open-minded. He wants to take the responsibility, he wants to take the challenge.”The example was there in the T20 series against Sri Lanka. I just casually asked him if he would want to bat up the order, and he was open for it. This is why we asked him to go up in the first T20.”As a captain, I want to use Jadeja a lot more with the bat. We all know his bowling. Everyone knows about his fielding. He brings so much balance to the team as well.”India’s lower order also scored heavily in the Mohali Test. At one stage, they were 228 for 5, in seeming danger of being dismissed for less than 300. However, for the loss of only three further wickets, the hosts added a whopping 346, thanks largely to Jadeja. Ashwin also scored 61, and Mohammed Shami contributed an unbeaten 20.”It’s very, very crucial in Test matches – the lower order coming to the party,” Rohit said. “I clearly remember back in 2015 when Virat [Kohli] took over as captain, we wanted to create a strong lower-order contribution and a strong foundation for that.”This is why we kept emphasising how important it is for all the bowlers to go out and bat in the nets; try and improve one or the other skill. If possible, go put that contribution out.”

Both teams have made a habit of losing from strong positions, and that’s reflected in the points table

Karthik Krishnaswamy21-Oct-20208:25

Is Stokes at the top working for Royals? Should Warner continue in the middle order?

Big picture

It’s that time of the season. No team is as yet out of the playoffs race, at least in theory, but it might take just a result or two for some of them to slip out of contention. The “some of them” subset presently includes the Rajasthan Royals, who have four wins from ten games, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have three wins from nine.ALSO READ: Fantasy-team suggestions for Royals vs SunrisersThese two teams are closely matched in many ways, one of them being a tendency to lose matches they should win. The Sunrisers suffered one such heartbreak – Super Over and all – in their last match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, while the Royals recently had a winning position snatched away by AB de Villiers and another – they needed 39 off 30 balls, with five wickets in hand – squandered by their own batsmen.Those chances are lost. Whatever last chances remain cannot go ungrabbed.

In the news

Kane Williamson injured his adductor muscle during the Sunrisers’ last match against the Kolkata Knight Riders. It’s not yet clear if he’s fully recovered.

What’s at stake

Sunrisers Hyderabad Played 9, Won 3, Lost 6The Sunrisers have five games left and have a positive net run rate. They can afford to lose one more game but with the Royals and Kings XI Punjab picking up momentum, the Sunrisers would not want to be left behind. A win against the Royals would put them in fifth place with a healthy net run rate. The Sunrisers still have games against the top three teams remaining and would not want to leave it too late.Sunrisers Hyderabad have decent alternatives if Kane Williamson isn’t fit•BCCI

Rajasthan Royals Played 10, Won 4, Lost 6By beating the Chennai Super Kings convincingly, the Royals have put themselves in a position to make the playoffs. However, like most of the lower-ranked teams they need to win three out of their next four games. Beating the Sunrisers will take them to 10 points. The Royals are also behind in terms of net run rate (-0.591) and would need to win convincingly in at least two of their next four games to challenge the likes of the Sunrisers and Kings XI if it comes down to that number. Three of the next four matches for the Royals are against teams they are competing with for a playoff spot and every win for the Royals will pull the others down.

Previous meeting

At the same ground, on October 11, the Sunrisers posted a below-par 158 despite losing just four wickets, but seemed poised to win when the Royals slipped to 78 for 5 in their chase. Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia, however, took the game away with an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 85 from 47 balls, finishing it with a ball to spare.

Likely XIs

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Ben Stokes, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Sanju Samson (wk), 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Riyan Parag, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Shreyas Gopal, 10 Ankit Rajpoot/Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Kartik TyagiSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson/Mohammad Nabi/Fabian Allen/Jason Holder, 5 Priyam Garg, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Basil Thampi/Khaleel Ahmed, 11 T NatarajanRashid Khan and Jofra Archer – key to the bowling plans of their respective sides•BCCI

Strategy punt

• Unable to run normally as a result of his injury, Williamson opened the batting against the Knight Riders in a bid to make use of the powerplay field restrictions and hit as many boundaries as possible. He did just that while scoring 29 off 19 and giving the Sunrisers a start that should have brought them a comfortable win. Though the result didn’t materialise, the Sunrisers could look to continue that approach, possibly with Williamson remaining at the top of the order to try and exploit the field restrictions. David Warner, who hasn’t been in the best ball-striking form of late, is adept at placing the ball into gaps and sprinting twos – if he stays in the middle order, he could use the middle-overs fields and large outfield in Dubai to his advantage while getting set.
• Williamson opening could also help the Sunrisers combat Jofra Archer, who has bowled 27 balls to Warner in T20 cricket and dismissed him three times while only conceding 23 runs. Williamson, on the other hand, has scored 27 runs off 15 balls from Archer, without being dismissed.
• If Williamson isn’t fit, the obvious swap for him would be Mohammad Nabi. The Afghanistan allrounder has only played one game this season, for no fault of his, and would probably be a regular at some other franchises. The Royals, though, only have two left-handers in their top seven in Ben Stokes and Tewatia, and may not therefore be the best match-up for Nabi’s offspin. This could perhaps prompt the Sunrisers to pick Fabian Allen instead. In addition to his explosive lower-order hitting (his overall T20 strike rate is 164.89), Allen bowls left-arm spin (economy rate 7.43) and is a gun fielder.
• Of all batsmen to have faced at least 40 balls this season, Archer (193.61) has the second-best strike rate behind Kieron Pollard (200.00). He’s only faced 47 balls through the tournament, though, so the Royals could look to bat him a little higher than they usually do, especially since he’s hit nine of those 47 balls for sixes. They don’t have to play him in the top six, necessarily, but No. 7 – especially if they are batting first – might be a good place for him, with someone like Parag or Tewatia to follow.

Stats that matter

• The Sunrisers haven’t won a single game while chasing this season, losing on all four occasions when they have bowled first.
• Since starting his season with two fifties on the trot, Sanju Samson has only scored 77 runs in eight innings, at an average of 9.6. He’ll be facing his favourite opponents, though. In 15 matches against the Sunrisers, he has 449 runs at an average of 40.81, including an unbeaten 102 – one of two hundreds he’s made in the IPL overall – last year.
• Of all bowlers who have sent down at least 100 balls across the two phases this season, Archer has the best economy rate over the powerplay and middle overs (4.66), just ahead of Rashid Khan (5.35).
• Ankit Rajpoot is one wicket short of 100 in T20s.
• Steven Smith is one six short of 100 in T20s.

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.

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.