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Northern Superchargers 193 for 5 (Malan 58, Crawley 45) beat Birmingham Phoenix 157 for 9 (Bethell 48, Livingstone 46*, Potts 3-26, Lawes 2-23, Rashid 2-26, Duffy 2-31) by 36 runsAn absorbing game in front of a capacity Leeds crowd finally went the way of Harry Brook’s Superchargers, who claimed top spot outright in the men’s Hundred following another scintillating batting performance against Birmingham Phoenix.In pursuit of the Superchargers’ 193 for 5 – the highest score in the men’s tournament since the 2023 season – a magnificent partnership of 80 in just 42 balls between Phoenix’s Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell briefly threatened to upset the odds, but the brilliance of Adil Rashid, who removed Bethell caught-and-bowled with 87 still needed from 38 balls, ultimately swung the momentum back to the home team.Livingstone kept swinging after Bethell’s departure but Rashid’s guile was too much for the Phoenix hitters. In a game dominated by the bat, on a flat pitch with a lightning fast outfield, it was the great legspinner who once again proved to be the difference, outfoxing Livingstone with his 17th delivery to settle the contest.The Phoenix top order again failed to fire, with three wickets falling in the powerplay – two of them to the excellent Matthew Potts, who finished up with three. Phoenix now face an uphill task to qualify for the latter stages of the competition.With the bat, the Superchargers’ superb top four were yet again irrepressible. Zak Crawley and Dawid Malan continued their fruitful opening partnership, adding 67 in 31 balls – Crawley was particularly savage on anything wide, racking up six fours and two sixes in his 23-ball stay – before Michael Pepper and then Brook took centre stage.Brook opened his account with an outrageous scoop for six off his first ball, and finished with 31 from just 14 deliveries as the home side added 40 in the last 20 balls.With three wins in four, Andrew Flintoff’s team are emerging as one of the teams to beat in this year’s tournament.Rashid, named the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “I thought we played exceptionally well. We put a great score on the board, which allowed us bowlers to go out there and attack to take wickets. We’ve got world class players all the way through and great firepower in the middle order.”I know their batters are going to come hard at me, so I need to be unpredictable and mix it up. It’s useful for me because I’ve bowled to a lot of these boys in the nets, so I know their strengths and weaknesses as well, which all plays a part. You’re always learning every day, and hopefully I’ll keep learning until the day comes when I hang up the boots.”

Ryan Rickelton is showing the value of runs under the belt. He came into the Champions Trophy on the back of a solid SA20, where he was the fourth-highest scorer. Before that, he had smoked 259 in the New Year’s Test against Pakistan. On Friday, it was time for him to leave his mark on the 50-over format as he scored his maiden ODI century in his seventh game as South Africa began their Champions Trophy with a solid 107-run win over Afghanistan.Batting first on a Karachi surface that had a nice layer of grass, South Africa rode on Rickelton’s 103 followed by steady fifties from Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram to rack up 315 for 6. That meant Afghanistan had to record their highest-ever successful chase if they had to win on Champions Trophy debut.But they never really got close. Rahmat Shah was the only bright spot as he scored a sprightly 90 off 92 balls, and was the last batter to fall. But with a second-highest score of 18, Afghanistan were never really in it. Kagiso Rabada picked up three wickets, while Lungi Ngidi and Wiaan Mulder got two each as Afghanistan were bundled for 208 in 43.3 overs.It was a largely flawless innings from Rickelton. He never looked rushed; not when Tony de Zorzi fell early or when Bavuma took his time to get going. Rickelton struck boundaries whenever he got a chance. When he didn’t, he quietly rotated the strike. He started with a lovely punch past mid-off third ball before going back-to-back against Fazalhaq Farooqi in the fifth over, once with a fierce pull through midwicket and then a cut past point.De Zorzi also struck two fours but fell to a rather nonchalant delivery from Mohammad Nabi early on when he flopped it straight to mid-on.Temba Bavuma got only his second fifty away from home•Associated Press

Bavuma’s first 19 balls yielded only seven runs before he got a couple of fours away to get into the groove. Rickelton, meanwhile, picked Azmatullah Omarzai for two delightful fours to raise his fifty off just 48 balls.South Africa ticked along to 83 for 1 after 15 overs, but an important passage of play was about to come: South Africa batters vs Afghanistan’s spinners. That’s where Rickelton really showed his wares. He would have faced a lot of Rashid Khan in the SA20 nets as they were part of the victorious MI Cape Town side, and that experience showed.Bavuma got to his second fifty away from home, as he continued his rich form. He had a solid 129-run stand for the second wicket with Rickelton, before holing out to deep midwicket as Nabi picked his second wicket.By that time, Rickelton had moved into his 90s, and had hardly broken a sweat. Afghanistan hardly helped themselves in the field, too. There were several misfields, and a run-out chance fluffed, while Noor Ahmad was particularly off-colour. He was either too short, or too full, and often tried to dart the ball in and lost his shape.Rickelton soon became the first South Africa batter to register a century on Champions Trophy debut with a push to long-off.Afghanistan got a lucky break when Rickelton was run-out in bizarre fashion. He bunted a Rashid length ball back to the bowler, who fired a flat throw to the wicketkeeper. Rickelton, out of his crease, was caught off-guard just a touch, and as he put in the dive, his bat bounced just short of the crease. That meant even though his bat was over the line, it was in the air when Rahmanullah Gurbaz whipped the bails off.Ibrahim Zadran lost his middle stump to a 148kph snorter from Kagiso Rabada•Associated Press

There was no respite for Afghanistan though. Van der Dussen, coming into the tournament not in great nick, was fluent and Markram found his stride as well, with both batters recording fifties. The last five overs yielded South Africa 51 runs as they posted an above-par total.For Afghanistan to chase down 316, it was imperative for Gurbaz to get going. But South Africa’s new-ball bowlers weren’t ready to give him an inch. Ngidi’s short-of-a-length ball got the better of Gurbaz as he got a top-edge to short fine leg. No. 3 Sediqullah Atal struggled big time. Ibrahim Zadran finally broke the shackles by hammering Rabada over wide long-on. That obviously did not please the bowler, who returned with a 148.3kph thunderbolt and sent Ibrahim’s middle stump splat.The South Africa pace bowlers concentrated on that hard length. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, in the first 15 overs, 33 of the balls bowled by South Africa were either short or short-of-a-good length.Atal’s difficult innings, where he was beaten ten times and played 14 false shots in the 32 balls he faced, ended with a run-out. Soon after, Hashmatullah Shahidi fell to a stunning catch by Bavuma at mid-on as Afghanistan stumbled to 51 for 4 after 15 overs.Rahmat was the only batter who showed some fight as he cruised to fifty off 62 balls. But with none of the batters hanging around, Afghanistan were always struggling. The Karachi crowd, which had come in numbers to support Afghanistan, found their voice when Rashid smashed three fours and a six in his cameo of 18 off 13 balls. But apart from that, there was little for the crowd to cheer.In the end, Rahmat edged Rabada to Rickelton for 90, as South Africa registered their first ODI win after six attempts.

The first ever WPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) aim to adopt an “aggressive approach” in all three departments. They want their players to be “fearless” in their quest to lift a second title in three seasons in front of their home crowd, according to head coach Charlotte Edwards.For the upcoming third edition of the WPL, MI have bought wicketkeeper-batter G Kamalini, and allrounders Nadine de Klerk, Akshita Maheshwari, and Sanskriti Gupta, whom captain Harmanpreet Kaur called “exciting talent”. De Klerk is the only international name among those, and the only one above 25 years of age.MI have also started preparing for the new season with almost a week’s training done in Navi Mumbai, mainly with the Indian players.Related

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“Every player that comes into MI hopefully knows what’s expected of them. But equally [important is] that aggressive approach which is what we want to have throughout when we bat, bowl or field – and that’s something we tried to put across most of the players,” Edwards said at a press conference in Mumbai. “But equally, have that clarity about what our strengths are.”Every player, we just want them to be fearless, and obviously, most of all, have lots of fun. That’s what makes me and obviously Jhulan [Goswami, bowling coach and mentor] very happy is when they’ve got smiles on their faces and they can impact games like the way they have done.”I thought we played some fantastic cricket last year, and that’s all we can ask [for]. Things that we really set here is that we want people turning on the TV and watching the Mumbai Indians playing, and we certainly did that last time – we had some entertaining games of cricket.”One of those entertaining games in WPL 2024 was when MI had chased down 191 against Gujarat Giants, led by Harmanpreet’s stunning 95 off 48 balls, an innings which was studded with ten fours and five sixes. But when it came to the Eliminator, MI fell just five runs short in their pursuit of 136 against eventual champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), as their middle order failed to score 16 runs off the remaining 12 deliveries after their captain’s dismissal.Last year, MI fell just five runs short in the Eliminator against RCB•BCCI

“We missed out by the narrowest of margins last year, which was disappointing. But we played the way we wanted to play, and this year, it’s just pure excitement for it,” Edwards said. “That we can keep building this team, to keep improving and hopefully get back to the winning ways, and get back to CCI (the Brabourne) and be in another final this year.”This time, MI have as many as nine players under the age of 25, including the 16-year-old Kamalini, who scored 143 runs for winners India during the recently-concluded Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. Edwards said the key was to teach those youngsters that being aggressive was not only about hitting sixes.”The wonderful thing about youth is they’ll come in, and they will be aggressive,” she said. “So now it’s for us to just teach somehow to play T20 cricket, and it’s not all about hitting sixes. And that’s our job now to instil that within the players, but never take away this aggressive approach that we want to just build on their wonderful talent.”And that’s what’s impressed me so much about the talent coming through. They’re just so forward-thinking and open-minded, and it’s so wonderful to coach, and they do it all with a smile on their face, which makes me very happy.”

Goswami: WPL’s motto is to expand women’s cricket

While the maiden WPL was held in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, the second season expanded to Bengaluru and Delhi. The third edition that starts from February 14 will be played across four cities: Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Goswami, who played international cricket for over 20 years, said expanding the women’s game in the country was the “motto” of the WPL, while she also hoped to lift the trophy at the Brabourne Stadium again, which will host the final two league games and the knockouts.”One of the best things about WPL is it’s now going in different places in our country, and it will impact local young girls, [and] budding cricketers – to motivate them, encourage them,” she said. “And that is the ultimate motto of WPL – to go to different venues and expand women’s cricket, particularly in our country.”Baroda (now Vadodara) will be a new venue for all of us. Recently, the Indian team played a series against West Indies [there], and the wicket was good; it’s a new stadium. Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium is a fantastic stadium. Coming back to Mumbai, [we’re] looking forward to coming back in our home and playing in front of our MI fans. It’s a big thing, and we have fond memories of our first year, and [are] really looking forward to this season and playing in front of our MI fans.”MI’s first game in WPL 2025 will be on February 15, against Delhi Capitals in Vadodara.

Martin Guptill has officially confirmed his retirement from international cricket, having last played for New Zealand in October 2022. Guptill, 38, will continue to feature in T20 leagues around the world.Guptill is currently in action for Auckland in the Super Smash, New Zealand’s domestic T20 competition, and has also signed up for the PSL draft, where Islamabad United have the option to retain him.Guptill leaves the international stage as a white-ball great for New Zealand, having racked up 7346 runs in 198 ODIs – only Ross Taylor (8607) and Stephen Fleming (8007) have scored more in the format for the Black Caps. In T20I cricket, he is still New Zealand’s highest run-getter, with 3531 in 122 games at an average of 31.81 and strike rate of 135.70.Related

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Guptill also played 47 Tests from 2009 to 2016, though he didn’t have as much success in the longest format, scoring 2586 runs at 29.38.”As a young kid it was always my dream to play for New Zealand and I feel incredibly lucky and proud to have played 367 games for my country,” Guptill said in an NZC statement. “I will forever cherish the memories made wearing the silver fern alongside a great group of guys.”I want to say a huge thanks to all my team-mates and coaching staff over the years, in particular Mark O’Donnell who has coached me since the Under-19 level and been a source of ongoing support and wisdom over my career.”To my wife Laura and our beautiful children Harley and Teddy – thank you. Thank you Laura for the sacrifices you have made for me and our family. You’ve been my biggest supporter, my rock and my counsel through all of the ups and downs that come with the game. I am eternally grateful.”Finally, I’d like to thank all the cricket fans, here in NZ and around the world for all their support throughout the years.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Guptill had made an immediate impact on his ODI debut in January 2009, when he clattered 122 not out off 135 balls against West Indies in Auckland. Six years later in the 2015 ODI World Cup quarter-finals at home, Guptill smashed an unbeaten 237 off 163 balls against the same opposition. Only India’s Rohit Sharma has a higher individual score in ODI cricket.Guptill’s explosive hitting at the top during the 2015 ODI World Cup – he scored a chart-topping 547 runs – played a vital role in New Zealand making the final, which they lost to Australia at the MCG.Four years later, Guptill was in the hot seat when New Zealand lost the 2019 ODI World Cup final to England at Lord’s without actually losing it. After having been trapped lbw for 19 off 18 balls in regular time, he returned to bat in the Super Over along with Jimmy Neesham but was run-out off the last ball as England won the title on boundary count.It got to Guptill and his New Zealand team-mates. “Neesham batted very well, and for Guppy to be that man in the situation – I’d have backed him every day of the week,” Taylor told the while recounting that nerve-wracking finish. “But, you know, Archer bowled very well and Roy did a good throw to Buttler. But at the same time, disappointed as a team, and disappointed for my team-mates and Guptill. But hopefully he’s still proud of what he did in getting us there and doesn’t put too much pressure on himself for that.”Though Guptill wasn’t at his best with the bat in the 2019 ODI World Cup, he certainly was at his best in the field in the rain-hit semi-final against India. He launched a rocket direct hit after running in from deep square leg to catch MS Dhoni just short. That run-out helped New Zealand make their second successive ODI World Cup final. Earlier in the tournament, in a league fixture against Australia, he had taken a blinder at leg gully to send back Steven Smith.Guptill was then part of the New Zealand team that had progressed to the T20 World Cup final in Dubai in 2021. Guptill was also part of the T20 World Cup squad in Australia in 2022 but did not get to play as Finn Allen was preferred over him.In November 2022, Guptill gave up his New Zealand central contract to become a freelancer. Since then, he has played in Australia’s Big Bash League, the Pakistan Super League, the Caribbean Premier League, the UAE’s ILT20 and the Nepal Premier League.When ‘Thank You Gup’ day was celebrated in Auckland in January last year, with the Eden Park Outer Oval turning into the ‘Martin Guptill Oval’ for a Super Smash testimonial game, it felt like Guptill’s retirement party.But he returned for the 2024-25 Super Smash, starting the season with scores of 31 off 23 balls and 60 off 35 balls for Auckland. Tom Latham, who witnessed Guptill’s most recent fifty from behind the stumps for Canterbury and has also opened the batting with him for New Zealand, paid tribute to the departing hero.”On his day, Gup was world-class and his crisp ball-striking and timing could take down the best bowling attacks in the world,” Latham said. “His numbers speak for themselves, but it was the matches he helped us win that I’ll remember, along with the way he set the standard in the field. I wish him all the best for what the future holds and hope to see him around a cricket ground soon.”Guptill’s glittering Black Caps career will be acknowledged during the team’s third ODI against Sri Lanka at Eden Park on January 11.

Adam Hollioake, Surrey’s legendary former captain, has been named as Kent’s new head coach, on a three-year deal that will keep him at Canterbury at least until the end of the 2027 season.He will take over from Matt Walker, who stepped down in September after eight years in the role, with Kent having suffered relegation from Division One of the County Championship, as well as finishing bottom of the South Group of the Vitality Blast.Hollioake, 53, has had limited coaching experience since retiring from playing in 2007, but forged his reputation as an inspirational leader during his time at Surrey, whom he guided to seven trophies, including three County Championships, between 1996 and 2003.He played four Tests for England between 1997 and 1998, as well as 35 ODIs in which his temporary role as captain resulted in a famous tournament victory in Sharjah in 1997-98. His tactical acumen is widely regarded to have been ahead of its time, and he was considered to lead England into the 1999 World Cup, in which he also played.Hollioake’s career was marred by tragedy, when his brother Ben was killed in a car-crash in March 2002, and he drifted away from cricket after retirement. After moving to live in Queensland in 2004, he set up a property company but was soon forced to declare bankruptcy and subsequently forged a brief career as a cage-fighter.Having coached Hong Kong at the 2000 ACC Trophy, he returned to cricket in 2017 as head coach of Boost Defenders in Afghanistan’s Shpageeza Cricket League, a role that he chose to stay on in even after a fatal bomb blast outside the ground in Kabul where his team were playing.This will be Hollioake’s first major head coach role, but he served as an assistant coach at Surrey in 2024, having previously worked as a batting coach for Pakistan, Queensland, and England Lions. He had been lined up by his former Surrey team-mate Graham Thorpe to join the England coaching set-up during the 2021-22 Ashes, but was ruled out after a close contact tested positive for Covid.”I’m honoured to be appointed as the head coach of Kent,” Hollioake said. “It’s an amazing chance for me to work with a great squad of players and to be involved with a county with such a rich history of success.”County Cricket is something that I hold extremely close to my heart, and this is an opportunity that I could not turn down.”Kent’s director of cricket, Simon Cook, said: “Adam has shown throughout his playing and coaching career that he has outstanding leadership qualities and a winning mentality, something that was instrumental in our decision to move in a new direction following our robust and thorough search for a new men’s head coach.”We welcome Adam into the Kent Cricket family and look forward to his leadership of our men’s side going into the new season.”

In desperate need of a result following an innings defeat in the first Test, Pakistan have seemingly had a complete change of heart on the sort of pitches they want at home, and opted to use the same one from the first Test. To that end, they have lined up with three spinners, with seam-bowling allrounder Aamer Jamal the only pace outlet.According to assistant coach Azhar Mahmood, though, this is precisely how Pakistan had planned it all along.”We had a clear plan of what pitches to prepare for Bangladesh, and what to prepare vs England,” he said on Tuesday. “Our approach was pace wickets against Bangladesh and spin pitches against England. Our instruction to the curator for the first Test was that the ball should spin after the second day. But the pitch didn’t take turn until even the fifth day. Hopefully the ball will begin to take turn on the ninth day.”Related

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If the expectation was that the pitch would take turn from the second day in the first Test, Pakistan’s line-up did not necessarily reflect that. Legspinner Abrar Ahmed was the only specialist spinner in the XI, with Pakistan lining up with Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi and Jamal to round the attack out. Now, unless one of the part-timers are thrown the ball, it will be the first time Pakistan play a men’s Test with only one quick bowler.It wasn’t an attack that left the Test with its reputation enhanced. England piled out 823 for 7, the highest score Pakistan have ever conceded. Captain Shan Masood was critical of the bowlers, and the focus has shifted to finding a way to take 20 wickets by any means necessary.”You have to take 20 wickets,” Mahmood said. “We thought about how we’re going to take those. We thought that if we use that pitch, the thinking was how do we take 20 wickets against England and we thought spin was the way to do it.”The players who are coming in are experienced. They are all experienced and have been playing first-class cricket for a while. The best option is to play players at home on pitches they are used to, so I don’t think there’ll be that much pressure on that.”While each of the incoming spinners – Zahid Mahmood, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan – have accumulated plenty of first-class experience over the years, none of it has been particularly recent. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy season hasn’t started yet, meaning these players’ last red-ball involvement was in the previous season – none of them have played a first-class match since January this year. Thrown in against an England side that broke a multitude of records on this very pitch last week, it is not a particularly gentle easing in.Mahmood also attempted to downplay all the changes from the first Test, particularly the leaving out of Babar Azam, which he insisted was “rest” rather than “drop”.”Babar is our No. 1 player in terms if technique and ability,” he said. “Pakistan has so much cricket coming that the selection committee decided to give Babar a rest, because Pakistan have to go to Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.Jason Gillespie and Azhar Mahmood hatch their plans•Getty Images

“We need to take advantage of our conditions. We announced the team for one Test match because we knew we would have changes. After this we’re flying to Australia to play white-ball cricket. We knew we’d have to rest Shaheen and other important players because we have non-stop cricket for the next six months.”There may be some scepticism towards Mahmood’s reasoning. None of the upcoming white-ball tours are as significant for Pakistan as a three-match home Test series against England. This is arguably the biggest series for Pakistan in this current season, and there will invariably be questions about why the upcoming white-ball series couldn’t serve as a more appropriate avenue for rotation.Fielding three spinners in addition to Salman Agha, who Mahmood said in August was a “specialist spinner”, requires a certain degree of confidence that the pitch will take turn. “We left a lot of grass on the pitches and wanted the ball to turn to use the pitch in our favour. Let’s see if it works for us.”

England have withdrawn Gus Atkinson from their 50-over squad to face Australia later this month, as they look to manage his workload after a summer in which he put himself in the first rank of quick bowlers for the Test side.Atkinson made his debut in July, taking 12 wickets in the match against West Indies at Lord’s, on the way to a haul of 34 wickets in six Tests. He and Chris Woakes were the ever present seamers through series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, which both consisted of back-to-back-to-back Tests.There were signs during the latter stages of the Sri Lanka series that Atkinson’s pace had dropped off through the course of the summer, and he spent time off the field on day three at The Oval with a tight quad – although he was deemed fit enough to bowl 11 overs in the fourth innings, taking one of the two Sri Lanka wickets to fall.The England management have now opted to rest him for their five ODIs against Australia, with Olly Stone joining the squad in his place.Related

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England are due to travel to Pakistan at the end of the September, ahead of a three-Test tour, and then go to New Zealand in November for three-more Tests. They will already be without Mark Wood, who was ruled out for the rest of the year by an elbow injury, and have been working to reshape the seam attack this summer after the retirements of Stuart Broad and James Anderson.”I think he’s okay,” England’s stand-in Test captain, Ollie Pope, said of Atkinson. “He’s obviously got a couple weeks off now just to refresh and move forward. He’s able to put his feet up now, but I think the way he bowled today and just chatting to him, he actually feels like it feels better today than it did when he first felt it so that’s a positive for us. Fingers crossed he’s all good.”The short turnaround until England begin their winter touring commitments in Pakistan, as well as a schedule that will see them play six more Tests before Christmas – with a white-ball trip to the Caribbean sandwiched in between – means player management will be at the forefront of the ECB’s thinking. Aside from Stone, five players who were involved against Sri Lanka are also in the ODI squad: Harry Brook, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Matt Potts and Jamie Smith.Pope was confident there would be no issues motivating the side for Pakistan, where Ben Stokes is hoping to be fit enough to resume duties as captain.”Obviously from a batting point of view it’s different to the fast bowlers, but I think they’ll have a couple weeks off just to refresh and get right for that,” Pope said. “And I think pulling an England shirt on is the greatest honour, so I don’t think there needs to be much more motivation.”We love touring as a team and everything’s a new, exciting challenge. So I think from that point of view, that’s fine. I know it’s a short turnaround, but I think us as a team, we love every bit in an England shirt whenever we get the opportunity to pull it on. So that won’t be an issue getting up for that. There’ll be a lot of excitement come the time ago to Pakistan.”England ODI squad to play Australia: Jos Buttler (capt), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Will Jacks, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, John Turner

Pakistan women’s team have not received daily allowances during their ongoing training camp in Multan, which started on September 1. The women’s squad, which is at the camp ahead of Pakistan’s three T20I matches against South Africa next week, will receive allowances once the series starts.But the decision marks a change in policy from how the allowance structure was determined at previous camps, and is also in contrast to how it is handled for the men’s national team.In the past, ESPNcricinfo understands that the women’s team received modest daily allowances at training camps. This time, however, the PCB is providing accommodation as well as three meals to the members at the camp; at previous camps, three daily meals were not provided. A PCB official told ESPNcricinfo the board’s policy dictated that if three meals a day and hotel accommodation were made available, no daily allowances over and above that would be provided.Related

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In theory, that remains true for the men’s side, too, but is rarely, if ever, put into practice. During the most recent men’s training camp, held ahead of Pakistan’s Test series against Bangladesh, the players were offered daily allowances over and above the accommodation and any food provided. However, three free full meals were not made available free of cost, with the allowances considered compensation in lieu of that. At previous camps over the years, the men’s side have almost always been awarded daily allowances, often with up to two meals freely available.It is not clear why the change in meal and allowance structure has kicked in for the women’s side, which has effectively seen a reduction in the recompense offered at training camps. At the Pakistan women’s camp in early April in Karachi, before the start of their white-ball home series against the West Indies, three full meals as well as some monetary daily allowances were provided to all participants. Thereafter, though, the PCB has deemed offering financial recompense surplus to requirements if three full meals are being provided.ESPNcricinfo understands the change in policy has left a number of the women’s players disappointed, with some believing being away from home for a camp merits beyond merely meeting the basic daily needs of lodging and food. There were hopes this would improve at future camps, with the women’s side gearing up for the women’s T20 World Cup, to be held next month.The situation arises at a time when the PCB’s scale of expenditure in other avenues of the game is at an all-time high, particularly in the form of stadium upgrades believed to cost the PCB tens of billions of rupees. The Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is being rebuilt almost from scratch, with the National Stadium in Karachi also seeing a significant overhaul. There is some construction work due at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium too, as the PCB prepare to host the Champions Trophy in 2025, the first ICC event they are scheduled to host in nearly three decades.Meanwhile, the ongoing Champions One-Day Cup, the domestic 50-over competition, has also seen a large financial outlay. The tournament will see the PCB offer prize money of around PKR 49 million, nearly ten times what was on offer last year, and almost half of what the PSL made available earlier this year. The mentors for the five sides – all former cricketers – are also being paid huge salaries – approximately PKR 5 million per month in three-year deals that will, all told, cost the PCB around PKR 900 million in mentor salary payments.The women’s central and domestic contracts are also yet to be finalised and announced. Last year, 19 women were awarded central contracts from August 1 2023, due to run till June 30, 2025. However, they were to be assessed at the end of the first 12 months, with six further weeks having passed since that assessment date, with any revisions to the contracts still pending. The men’s central contracts, too, are well past their assessment date, and though they are expected imminently, there is no official word yet on when any changes will be announced.

Birmingham Phoenix gave themselves a healthy boost in their quest for the top three with a fantastic win against Northern Superchargers in The Hundred at Edgbaston on Tuesday.Phoenix dominated with the ball, blowing the visitors away for just 83, before knocking off the fastest chase in the history of the The Hundred men’s competition thanks to Ben Duckett and Moeen Ali.Northern Superchargers won the toss and chose to bat, with much excitement at the return of England Men’s Test captain Ben Stokes.Unfortunately for Stokes, he made an inauspicious start: made to wait 20 deliveries at the non-striker’s end before being bowled first ball by one that nipped back through the gate from Tim Southee.Birmingham’s Kiwi pace attack set the tone for Phoenix’s victory. Southee took a wicket with his first ball to dismiss Matt Short, before Adam Milne got rid of the dangerous Nicholas Pooran.Captain Harry Brook attempted to rebuild from 19 for 3, with Adam Hose, but even Brook found the pitch tough going as he succumbed to Chris Wood with the score at 36 for 4 halfway through the Superchargers’ innings.Superchargers’ cause wasn’t helped by a superb run-out from Duckett to remove Hose 10 balls later. Southee completed his sublime spell with 3 for 15 and his partner Milne 3 for 20 with the visitors bowled out for a meagre 83 – the second-lowest total in the Men’s Hundred competition.Duckett continued from where he left off for Phoenix on Saturday, racing to 43 from 20 balls, alongside opening partner Moeen, who was similarly speedy for his 37 from 21.Phoenix’s 10-wicket win dents Northern Superchargers’ hopes of making The Hundred Eliminator, while Moeen’s team have put themselves in the mix for the latter stages of the tournament as they leapfrogged their opponents into third after five matches.Meerkat Match Hero Southee said: “We assessed conditions reasonably quickly and the seamers hit a good length that proved difficult to play. It was a pretty clinical performance all round.”This is a great team to be a part of and I’m enjoying my time here. That goes a long way, and it is nice to chalk up another win.”A win like that can only do wonders for the confidence going into our next games, but we know we are heading to a different ground and different opposition, so we have to start again. There are no easy teams in this tournament so we should have another good couple of matches coming up.”

Poor form from the batters was the primary reason for Bangladesh’s disappointing T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, according to vice captain Taskin Ahmed. He said that almost everything went according to plan except the batting during Bangladesh’s 47-day tour of the Americas.In a tough environment for batters across the tournament, Bangladesh’s batting unit had the lowest collective average among the Super Eight teams.Bangladesh’s top three failed to give them a start in any of their innings with Litton Das scoring the lone fifty from those positions. Towhid Hridoy’s 153 runs at 128.57 was their best batting performance but Shakib (111 runs at 106.73 SR) and Mahmudullah (95 runs at 94.05 SR) couldn’t provide him with enough support in the middle order.Related

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“The seniors’ off-form had an effect on the team but not off the field,” Taskin told reporters at the Dhaka airport, after the Bangladesh team’s arrival on Friday morning. “They are great team men. We stayed as a team for 47 days. Everything was fine off the field. It is quite normal that a team will have problems when important players are not in form. I am hopeful that we can recover from this, and play better soon.”Taskin said that the batters only found better pitches when they reached the West Indies but even then he said that he hadn’t seen such a long batting slump by Bangladesh in his international career.”When you talk about the batting, if you look at the statistics, I think every [teams’] batting department suffered in the USA this time. Bowlers got a lot of help. We got better [batting] wickets in the West Indies.”I haven’t seen such a long bad patch for the batters in my ten years playing for Bangladesh. I hope it goes away quickly.”We never had great numbers in T20s. We are improving slowly. We cannot just look at minus points; we are in the negative already. We are trying to get a ‘plus’. Your frustration is expected. We will give you a good win. You have to keep faith in us. We will give it our best.”Taskin was part of a strong bowling display from Bangladesh. He was returning from injury but Tanzim Hasan and legspinner Rishad Hossain led the bowling charts; Rishad remains in joint-third position among the tournament’s top wicket-takers, ahead of the final. Taskin said that it proved talented cricketers are coming up from Bangladesh.”The bowling unit has been doing well for the last few years. We have been consistent. It will keep getting better.”Tanzim and Rishad are among the tournament’s top wicket-takers. It is a positive. We have some future stars emerging from Bangladesh. It says that we have ability. What has taken place has hurt us and the fans, especially our inability to win certain matches,” he said.Taskin said that they were left disappointed with the last game against Afghanistan especially, when Bangladesh had to chase down their target in 12.1 overs to make it to the semi-finals but couldn’t get the job done.”We could have done a lot better. We were all quite disappointed with the last match. We tried to win it in 12 overs, but when we realised it wasn’t possible, we tried to win the game. We still couldn’t win.”There are positives from the campaign. Our bowlers did very well throughout the tournament. We qualified to the Super Eight. We won three matches in the T20 World Cup for the first time. So there are positives, but there are negatives too. We are disappointed like the rest of you. We didn’t play up to expectations.”