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BBL’s all-time leading run-scorer will fulfil long-held ambition to play county cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2022Chris Lynn will play county cricket for the first time this summer after agreeing a deal to play for Northamptonshire in the T20 Blast.ESPNcricinfo revealed on Friday that Lynn’s name topped Northants’ shortlist for a second overseas player to appear alongside James Neesham in this year’s competition, and the club confirmed his signing on Monday morning.Lynn made his first appearance in English domestic cricket last summer, playing for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, but this will be his first stint in the county game.”I have always wanted to play county cricket and I’m really looking forward to joining up with Northamptonshire for the Vitality Blast,” he said. “The UK is a great place to play and I am hopeful that I can contribute with some good performances and also try to entertain the Steelback fans this summer.”Related

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Lynn is the Big Bash League’s all-time leading run-scorer but his form has dipped in the last two years. Since August 2020 he has averaged 23.20 with a strike rate of 133.33 in all T20 cricket and he has fallen out of Australia contention.But Northants were in the market for a top-order batter following the departure of Adam Rossington on a season-long loan to Essex and Lynn was the perfect fit, according to their T20 captain Josh Cobb.”To get someone of Lynn’s quality is an excellent signing,” Cobb said. “He fits the bill really well in terms of his power at the top of the order and fills that slot for us nicely. I really get the feeling he has a hunger to go out there and perform and when he does Wantage Road certainly won’t be big enough.”Lynn’s captained the Brisbane Heat for a number of years too so for me personally he brings those leadership qualities as well,” Cobb added. “I’m looking forward to working alongside him and getting some different views he might have.”

Worcestershire have given themselves an excellent chance of securing promotion after a third successive County Championship victory

George Dobell at New Road15-Sep-2017Worcestershire have given themselves an excellent chance of securing promotion after a third successive County Championship victory.It may have taken them longer than anticipated – entry to New Road was free on Friday with a possibility that matters could be settled within an hour, but play ultimately stretched until around 3.20pm – but the result takes Worcestershire top of the table with only a couple of weeks of the season remaining.The result from Cardiff means promotion is not assured as Northants have a game in hand. But the worst case scenario means Worcestershire will require a maximum of 11 points from their final match against Durham. As their captain, Joe Leach, put it: “It’s in our own hands.”With Northants needing to defeat Nottinghamshire next week to sustain their own promotion hopes, it is entirely possible Worcestershire’s promotion will be guaranteed before their next match begins. If so, it would be their fifth promotion in 11 years under director of cricket Steve Rhodes and the first time in the history of two divisions they will have found themselves in the division above Warwickshire.It is a scenario that seemed unlikely only a few weeks ago. After the fall-out of the Tom Kohler-Cadmore affair and a gruesome T20 campaign – no team won fewer or lost more games – it seemed their Championship form was falling away. They won just one (and lost three) out of six Championship games in the middle of the season.But a brief break and the acquisition of Ravi Ashwin has given them renewed life. While Ashwin’s figures are relatively modest – he has claimed 13 wickets at an average of 33.46 in his three games to date – his presence has lifted the side. He is clearly relaxed in the environment – he is enjoying walking around the city without being recognised – and has inspired some of his young team-mates to this revival. Ashwin was the only man in this side not to have graduated through the Worcestershire system.They are a couple of exceptional young players in this Worcestershire side. In 19-year-old Josh Tongue (who has 45 first-class wickets this season) they have one of the outstanding fast bowling prospects in the country – it is a long, long time since such a bowler came through the system here – while in 21-year-old Joe Clarke (who has 850 first-class runs this summer) they have one of the outstanding young batsmen. Both are set to be included in performance squads this winter.”To be top of the league with predominantly home grown talent, we are very proud of that fact,” Rhodes said afterwards. “To pick up maximum points with 10 Academy players makes you feel very proud.”The new-ball spell on Thursday, when Leicestershire were reduced to 10 for 4, was a pivotal moment in the game.”They did not have life completely their own way on the final day. Leicestershire’s eighth-wicket pair, coming together with the lead only 22, put on 103 in 23 overs as Worcestershire’s ploy of testing them with the short ball backfired. Zak Chappell, in particular, produced some nice pulls as he recorded the second half-century of his career – the first, an innings of 96, was made on his first-class debut – with Lewis Hill adding measured support.They played Ashwin well, too. Chappell brought up his 50 from 63 balls with a straight six back over the off-spinner’s head and, as the lead grew beyond 100 and rain necessitated a couple of brief interruptions, Worcestershire nerves began to grow.Finally, the short ball worked, though. Chappell and Doeter Klein pulled long-hops to midwicket before Lewis, left only with the No. 11, slog-swept to the square-leg boundary where Brett D’Oliveira held on to a well-judged catch. Leicestershire had lost their last three wickets for the addition of just six runs and Worcestershire required just 132 to win.The pursuit was not entirely straightforward – D’Oliveira missed an attempted scoop, Daryl Mitchell played on and Tom Fell, with a top score of 39 in all formats this season, looks as if he needs a holiday – but the pitch remained true and Leicestershire, without a win this season, lacked the belief to turn the screw as some sides might have done.It was, though, a day that offered some encouragement for Leicestershire, too. In 21-year-old Chappell they have one of the most outstanding prospects in the county game: an allrounder capable of bowling fast. He is raw, certainly – he is prone to fall away as he bowls and he doesn’t seem to gain much lateral movement – but he has the potential to be fine player.And in Callum Parkinson, who followed his eight wickets in the first innings – the best haul by a Leicestershire bowler since Devon Malcolm took 8 for 63 against Surrey in 2001 – with two more in the second to claim a first 10-for, they have one of the best young, left-arm spinners. Mark Cosgrove, the Leicestershire captain, went as far as describing him as “the best spinner in the game.” While that might be wishful thinking, he is one of the players that provides hope of better times ahead for long-suffering Leicestershire supporters.”Everyone’s attention was on Ashwin, but Parky outshone him quite easily,” Cosgrove said. “He’s got a massive future in front of him and hopefully we can get the pitch to turn at Grace Road.”They could do worse than learn from Worcestershire. While some clubs look for their cheque book when they require a player, Worcestershire look to their youth teams. The England management and selectors talk of Rhodes as the most helpful and committed of all county coaches, one of the few who never questions why a player might be called into a Lions squad or rested from a key match. He, and the likes of the academy coach Elliot Wilson are producing players who could serve their club and country with distinction. For that, the entire English game should be grateful. Promotion seems a just reward.

Bowler has nine for the match, but Essex can’t seal early win despite taking extra half hour

ECB Reporters Network07-Sep-2022Kent 164 (Leaning 34, Cox 34, Allison 4-40) and 137 for 8 (Cook 6-33) trail Essex 573 (Khushi 164, Critchley 90, Cook 78, Westley 54, Allison 53) by 272 runsSam Cook’s 6 for 33 reduced Kent to 137 for 8 in their second innings, a deficit of 272 which left them praying for rain after day three of their LV=Insurance match with Essex at Canterbury.Sam has match figures of 9 for 60, while Adam Rossington has seven catches so far, but Essex remain two wickets shy of victory, despite taking an extra half hour after the scheduled close of 6.33pm.Kent’s top scorer, Jordan Cox, was not out on 53 at stumps, partnered by Matt Milnes unbeaten on 12, but Kent’s only realistic hope of avoiding defeat is if the weather intervenes on day four.Earlier Ben Allison took 4 for 40 as Kent were dismissed for 164 in their first innings, 409 behind the 573 Essex made after they were put in on day one.Kent were 74 for 4 when play began after a 10-minute rain delay and after some early resistance they rapidly faded.Jack Leaning batted for 41 minutes with Cox, before Cook had him caught by a tumbling Feroze Khushi at square leg, and from then on no partnership lasted for more than five overs.Sam Billings batted despite a groin injury, with Ben Compton acting as his runner, but he was visibly struggling and lasted just nine balls before he nicked Allison to Rossington.Allison then removed Grant Stewart, who edged the seventh ball he faced behind for two and Harry Podmore, who made 13 before he became Rossington’s fifth victim of the innings.Allison then clipped the top of Cox’s off stump, bowling him for 34, before the rain returned, with Kent 145 for 9, ushering in an early lunch.When play resumed Matt Quinn tried to hit Shane Snater out of the ground and was bowled for 7, leaving Essex with a mammoth first-innings lead.To the surprise of precisely no one in the Spitfire Ground they enforced the follow on, claiming an early victim when Ollie Robinson edged Cook behind for 15, before a second rain delay wiped out 19 overs.Kent’s best hope of salvaging a draw lay in batting out the day and hoping a grim weather forecast for day four would prove accurate, but when play resumed Cook hadn’t even completed his over before he’d removed Daniel Bell-Drummond for a second-ball duck, again caught behind.In Cook’s next over he took wickets with successive deliveries, first getting Ben Compton caught at second slip by Matt Critchley for 7, then getting Leaning caught for a golden duck by the same fielder.Cook claimed his fifth wicket of the innings when Joe Denly tried to pull him and instead got a top edge that floated to Nick Browne at third slip. Stewart tried to drive Cook and was caught by Browne at mid off for six.Harry Podmore lingered for 46 balls for 10 before he was bowled by Jamie Porter and Essex looked like wrapping up the win inside three days when Billings chipped the same bowler to Tom Westley, for his first ever pair, but Cox pulled Snater for four to pass 50 shortly before the scheduled close and although the extra half hour was taken, the players went off for bad light at 6.59 pm.

‘Every over they might pick up two wickets, that is the kind of belief they have in their abilities. The team has a belief in them, the team is backing them’

Sidharth Monga in Cape Town08-Feb-20182:26

‘Will not let our guard down for remaining games’ – Kohli

Twenty-one wickets between them at an average of 9.05. A combined economy rate of 3.63. A wicket every 15 balls. India’s spinners have Virat Kohli eating out of their wrists. And the captain is amazed and thankful that they are both winning him matches, so much that he won’t deny they could soon push for places in the Test side, whose incumbents not long ago were the two top-ranked bowlers in the world.”Those are things that are quite a bit away from now,” Kohli said when asked of the Test chances of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, especially away from home. “Look they are obviously making a very strong case for themselves, bowling in these conditions and making breakthroughs like we haven’t seen before. It’s outstanding to see two guys just totally spinning a web around the opposition. There doesn’t seem to be a way out at all. It’s unbelievable. Taking eight wickets today. Outstanding.”I don’t have words to explain this. Credit to them. Both have been working hard on their game. Both are very brave in terms of how they bowl and the kind of fields they want as well. They are very brave tossing the ball and asking the batsman to come out and play a risky shot. Hats off to them but the other debate is a bit away from now. You never know what happens in the future but I am really happy at the moment.”India were obviously hopeful the spinners would do well for them but to this extent? “We knew they will pick up wickets,” Kohli said. “Because wristspinners, these guys have bowled in flatter batting tracks at home. Some might think they have bowled in T20 cricket when the conditions are very very difficult and they have picked up wickets on a regular basis, you know.”Here they felt even better because they were getting bounce. On some pitches like today, it got really slow at the end so they were getting turn as well. They feel at the top of their game when they have the pitches supporting them even a little bit. But they are very brave and even on flatter pitches, wristspinners will also come into play and they have made that difference in the game. They might go for six an over, we knew that, but they will pick up three-four wickets between them. They have done outstandingly well in the last two games picking up a majority of the wickets in both games and being the difference between both sides.”BCCI

Both the spinners have spoken highly of the confidence the captain and the team management have given them. They know they can afford to have an off day and concede 70 in 10 overs as long as the captain knows they are bowling to take wickets. “The thing is very simple,” Kohli said. “They are told to go for wickets at all times. When you are going for wickets you are bowling in areas that are uncomfortable for the batsmen and more often than not they end up defending. When you bowl wide and try to save runs then you give an opportunity to take singles also.”So I think all the credit has to go to them because they’ve executed those lines and lengths perfectly. They’ve always, every over they’ve asked two-three questions of the batsmen, that is something outstanding. I haven’t seen that before. Every over they might pick up two wickets, that is the kind of belief they have in their abilities. The team has a belief in them, the team is backing them.”They might get hit for 70-odd in the next game. But there is no problem in that because you know that if they bowl attacking lines then they will end up picking two-three wickets every game. In these conditions now and we are going to play the World Cup away from home, that I think is going to be the massive X-factor for us.”The biggest acknowledgement is usually the opposition’s. JP Duminy was pretty graceful in admitting the India spinners had South Africa’s batsmen in all sorts of trouble. That they were not picking their wrong’uns, that the India spinners bowled the optimum pace, and that their lengths kept denying them the single down the ground, that batsmen are forced to take risks against them, and then they lose wickets. As Kohli said, this kind of spin dominance in tandem has perhaps never been seen in South Africa before.

A victory at Hagley Oval will also take New Zealand to the top of the ICC Test rankings

Firdose Moonda23-Feb-2022

Big picture

New Zealand are on the brink of history but, from talking to the team, you’d barely know it. Neil Wagner described their win in the first Test over South Africa as “no different to any of the others,” but it is. Wagner, nor any of his team-mates had ever been part of a Test XI that have won a match against South Africa. That last happened for New Zealand in 2004, when Wagner was still a South African. New Zealand have also never won a Test series against South Africa and have lost 13 out of 16, including the last six. Over the next five days, they have an opportunity to change that.Even a draw at Hagley Oval – though an unlikely possibility given conditions and history – will give New Zealand victory over the only Full Member they’ve played that they do not have a series win against. A triumph for New Zealand will see them sweep the series, go top of the ICC Test rankings and will keep them on track in the World Test Championship points race. All that without the retired Ross Taylor, injured Kane Williamson, and paternity-leave absentee Trent Boult should mark a very satisfying home Test summer for New Zealand, who next play away, in England.Related

• Tom Latham and New Zealand chasing 'as many WTC points as possible'

• Wagner: Winning against South Africa 'no different to any of the other ones'

• Stats – South Africa's second-worst defeat ever, Tim Southee's home record

South Africa are also heading to the UK, but only after hosting Bangladesh at home first and will not want to go into that series looking in worse shape than they have over the last eight months. After a Test series in West Indies, a better-than-expected T20 World Cup and an against-the-odds home Test series win over India, things were looking up but they slumped to their second-biggest defeat in their history in the first Test and some will wonder if it’s one step forward and several back.Perhaps there’s comfort in knowing they are not at full strength after newly installed No. 3 Keegan Petersen missed the tour and Lungi Ngidi sat out the first match but South Africa believe they have unearthed a deeper talent pool and will want to prove that. They’re also known for working their way back from impossible situations and having their backs to the wall tends to bring out the best in them, which bodes well for the second Test, at least, lasting longer than the first.The opening Test was over in seven sessions and though the venue has not changed, South Africa promise their headspace has. It will still be a battle of bowlers but with the way South Africa collapsed last week and New Zealand prospered on the same strip, this is more likely to be a measure of which line-up adjusts better and shows the fortitude to go the distance.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand WWLLDSouth Africa LWWLW

In the spotlight

He went largely unnoticed next to Matt Henry and Tim Southee’s record-breaking performance and Wagner’s brute force against his former countrymen, but Kyle Jamieson was equally important to piling pressure on South Africa. He conceded at under two runs an over in the first innings and was instrumental in holding an end while Henry ran through South Africa. With his height – just a shade shorter than Marco Jansen at 2.03 metres – Jamieson generates awkward bounce and he told local media he is also searching for some extra speed so he can move out of the 130kph range and more consistently into 140kph territory. If he gets it right, he would be the scariest seamer New Zealand have.South Africa’s entire batting line-up is under scrutiny, including the position of wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne . His Test career is only five matches old but Verreynne has yet to demonstrate the kind of batting that took his first-class average to over 50 or reputation for being an aggressive stroke-maker. He has had limited opportunity but averages 15.42 from seven Test innings and has not yet crossed 30. Crucially, he has conceded 46 byes in five innings and appears to have some tightening up of his game behind the stumps. With Ryan Rickleton breathing down his neck, with an average of over 100 this season and reasonable form with the gloves, Verreynne may have to make the most of this chance or risk being swapped out for the home Tests against Bangladesh.

Team news

South Africa are likely to bench Aiden Markram, who averages 9.7 from his last 10 Test innings, but whether that creates room for Rickleton will depend on whether they feel they need an extra bowler. With Ngidi needing another two weeks to recover from a back injury, South Africa may look for insurance from allrounder Wiaan Mulder or spinner Keshav Maharaj and cut the line-up to six batters, but if they choose to include a seventh, Rickleton could debut. Glenton Stuurman had a difficult debut and could be replaced by Lutho Sipamla.South Africa (possible): 1 Dean Elgar (capt), 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Temba Bavuma, 5 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 6 Zubayr Hamza, 7 Wiaan Mulder/Keshav Maharaj, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Kagiso Rabada 10 Duanne Olivier, 11 Lutho SipamlaTrent Boult has returned from paternity leave but does not have the bowling loads to be considered for this Test, which should allow Henry to keep his place.New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Will Young, 3 Devon Conway, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Colin de Grandhomme 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Matt Henry

Pitch and conditions

The second Test will be played at the same venue but on a different pitch and New Zealand’s centurion from the first Test, Henry Nicholls, expects conditions to remain the same. Two days out from the match starting, he had not seen the pitch but assumed it looked pretty green and said that doesn’t mean run-scoring needs to be laboured. “It’s going to offer a bit to the bowlers but it does offer scoring opportunities,” Nicholls said. South Africa’s vice-captain Temba Bavuma was more hopeful that there’d be less bite. With warmer weather in the lead-up to this match, he hoped it would be pleasant for batting. Temperatures are set to stay in the high teens, with no rain forecast, but cloudy conditions for day three.

Stats and trivia

India coach Anil Kumble will have to go through a “fair and completely transparent” selection process if he is to continue in his current role after the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-20174:36

Ugra: Hard to imagine a better candidate for coach

India coach Anil Kumble will have to go through a “fair and completely transparent” selection process if he is to continue in his current role after the Champions Trophy. While the board has called upon interested candidates to apply for the job on or before May 31, it clarified that Kumble would be a “direct entry for the process”.The Cricket Advisory Committee [CAC], comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, will conduct interviews and seek presentations from the applicants. The committee was also responsible for the appointment of Kumble last year following interviews with a handful of candidates. The interview process, the BCCI said, would be overseen by a nominee of the Committee of Administrators along with the CAC.Kumble had been appointed as head coach in June last year by the former BCCI administration led by president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke, based on the the recommendation of the CAC. While Kumble wasn’t initially among the 21 names shortlisted by Shirke’s office, the CAC asked for his name to be included. After Kumble was picked ahead of the other shortlisted candidates, including former team director Ravi Shastri, he was handed a one-year contract. Shirke had said the one-year contract gave the board the latitude to revisit their decision.

Kohli on the coach-selection process

Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, said he did not find anything wrong with the BCCI inviting applications for the head-coach position and the process starting from scratch. “The process has been followed every single time similarly in Indian cricket for the past so many years is what I know,” Kohli said.
“Even the last time the post was up for a change, the same procedure was applied. With the term being one year, the procedure is being followed in the same manner. I don’t see anything very different form what has happened in the past. That is something the board has recognised. They want to follow the same pattern.”

“Kumble is now transforming himself from being a great on the cricketing field to probably becoming a great coach that we expect him to be. That transition has to be smooth,” Shirke had said then. “This is professional appointment. All professional appointments try to cover all bases. Therefore that is the reason we want to be able to be in a position to review our options should there be any need. I am confident that we will not have that need to address that need. That is the exact reason behind the one-year appointment.”Kumble’s stint began with a 2-0 Test series win against West Indies – the first time India won two Tests in a series in the Caribbean. India then won Test series against New Zealand, England, and Australia at home. Under Kumble, India have lost only one of their 17 Tests. India also won limited-overs series against New Zealand and England during his term.

Brathwaite and Kyle Hope’s unbroken 63-run second-wicket stand leave Zimbabwe chasing the game on a 11-wicket day

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo22-Oct-2017Stumps
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDevendra Bishoo’s fourth five-for gave West Indies a handy lead•WICB Media/Brooks LaTouche Photography Ltd

In a Test match being played in fast-forward mode, 11 wickets fell on the second day at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo as West Indies surged into the ascendancy. Legspinner Devendra Bishoo was the catalyst for the turnaround, scything through Zimbabwe’s top order to finish with 5 for 79.His first ball of the morning was hit for six, but Bishoo soon found his rhythm. In an unbroken 23-over spell on either side of lunch, he undid all of the hard work done by Zimbabwe’s bowlers, with spin, bounce and accuracy. The hosts were bowled out for 159 during the extended post-lunch session, and by the close West Indies had stretched their lead to 148, with Kraigg Brathwaite and Kyle Hope adding an unbeaten 63 for the second wicket.For a while, it appeared that Zimbabwe might continue to chug along gamely despite the early loss of Solomon Mire. But once Bishoo settled, West Indies made regular inroads as Zimbabwe lost 9 for 68 from a comfortable 91 for 1.Hamilton Masakadza, who had muscled Bishoo’s opening delivery over long on for six, could not smother the turn of a fizzing legbreak and feathered an edge through to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich for 42 – the highest score of Zimbabwe’s innings. Brendan Taylor’s second coming then lasted all of seven deliveries before he reverse swept Bishoo into Jermaine Blackwood’s hands at slip, the fielder having moved in anticipation of the stroke.With his dismissal Zimbabwe slipped to 93 for 3, and Sean Williams endured a working-over against the pace of Shannon Gabriel as the hosts went into the lunch interval without further loss. At that point, the innings – and the match – was still in the balance, but the afternoon belonged entirely to West Indies.Bishoo’s effort was well backed up by the pace attack, who utilized the dryness of the surface to extract significant reverse swing. Kemar Roach had a flat-footed Sean Williams caught behind wafting lazily at one that left him off the track, while Jason Holder, hiding the shiny side of the ball in his hands during his run-up, castled Malcolm Waller with one that hooped in from outside off to beat a loose defensive poke. Between times, Bishoo bowled unchanged and found regular success against an increasingly jittery middle order.Sikandar Raza looked a little ungainly against the quicks, and positively frenetic against spin. He might have been stumped very early on, had the ball not deviated off his elbow and away from Dowrich, but kept using his feet and eventually swiped underneath a flighted delivery to top-edge a catch to Gabriel at long off.That gave Bishoo his third, with Zimbabwe still 96 in arrears. Straight after the afternoon drinks break, he had his fourth, finally getting the better of Craig Ervine with one that went straight on with the arm to beat the left-hander’s sweep and strike him right in front of middle stump. With Bishoo ragging it square from one end and the pace attack reversing the ball from the other end, full capitulation from Zimbabwe seemed only a matter of time.Regis Chakabva flapped a half-hearted cut tamely to backward point to give Bishoo his fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket – and his third away from home. When Graeme Cremer inside-edged a drive off Holder Zimbabwe were 147 for 9. The last pair of Chris Mpofu and Kyle Jarvis added just 12 more before Mpofu nicked off to a length delivery from Gabriel.Brathwaite and Powell strode out to open the batting a second time inside two days with the opportunity to bat Zimbabwe out of a match. They weathered steady new-ball spells from Kyle Jarvis and Christopher Mpofu, but when spin was introduced Powell fell almost immediately, playing inside a delivery from Cremer to see his off stump disturbed.West Indies were 25 for 1 then, and with both Cremer and Williams gaining alarming turn and bounce, Zimbabwe were not yet out of the match. Hope was offered an early reprieve when a tough chance went down at short leg, but soon got his feet moving and repeatedly shovelled the spinners into the leg side. Brathwaite, similarly legside in his technique, was also unafraid to loft the ball and cracked Cremer over long on for six early in his innings.Neither he nor Hope gave Zimbabwe much of a sniff thereafter, and though there was still turn on offer in the afternoon it seemed some of the bite had gone out of the track. But there is still an awful lot of time left in a match during which 21 wickets have already fallen – and all but seven of those to spin. With a little more hard work, West Indies are one or two sessions from closing out the first Test.

India A will play three four-day games and as many List A matches against New Zealand

Shashank Kishore16-Aug-2022The BCCI is set to resume the India A programme in early September, with incoming tours from New Zealand, and possibly, Australia. It will be helmed by VVS Laxman and his NCA support staff group of Sairaj Bahutule and Sitanshu Kotak.ESPNcricinfo has learnt that New Zealand A will arrive in India by the end of August for three four-day games and as many List A matches, with all of them likely to be held in Bengaluru. The BCCI is also contemplating the possibility of a pink-ball fixture during the series, but a final nod is awaited.New Zealand A played a pink-ball game on their previous tour to India in 2017-18. That game in Vijayawada, though, was a day fixture despite being played with the pink ball. And if the game in the upcoming series next month does go ahead, it will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.The New Zealand A tour is expected to overlap with the Duleep Trophy, the zonal first-class competition, which will open India’s domestic calendar for the 2022-23 season. The six-team tournament will be played from September 8 to 25 in Chennai and Coimbatore.The home series against New Zealand will be India A’s first assignment since their tour to South Africa late last year, just prior to the national team’s three-Test series in December.The BCCI is also understood to be in negotiations with Cricket Australia for a tour towards the end of the year – most likely in November – prior to the start of the Ranji Trophy and India’s next Test assignment, which will be in Bangladesh.The Bangladesh tour, consisting of two Tests, will be India’s penultimate World Test Championship (WTC) assignment. They will culminate the current leg of the WTC with a four-Test series at home against Australia in February-March.

A round-up of the WICB Regional Super50 matches played on January 31, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2017Trindad & Tobago decimated West Indies Under-19s for 58 in the course of their eight-wicket win at North Sound on Tuesday. Having put West Indies U-19 in to bat, Sheldon Cottrell went on to scythe through the line-up, finishing with returns of 7-4-6-3 to pick up the Man-of-the-Match award. Seamer Roshon Primus and left-arm spinner Khary Pierre also took two wickets each during an innings that lasted only 31 overs.West Indies U-19s’ total of 58 was largely down to wicketkeeper Emmanuel Stewart’s 60-ball 30, with none of the other batsmen even reaching double-figures. T&T needed only 10.2 overs to brush past the target, for the loss of their openers. The win helped T&T climb to second place on the table, even as West Indies U-19s languish at the bottom of Group A.An unbeaten 84-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Adam Ball and wicketkeeper Adam Rouse sealed a four-wicket win for Kent, after Calum Haggett (4-59) and Imran Qayyum (3-42) had restricted Windward Islands to 241 for 9.Having been put in to bat, Windward were struggling at 91 for 5, with Haggett and Qayyum having taken four of the five wickets at this stage. Sunil Ambris’ 69-ball 50 – his third fifty-plus score in four matches – pushed the score to 241 with help from the lower order, particularly Windward captain Liam Sebastien (32), seamer Kyle Mayers (37 not out) and Darren Sammy (23). Kent captain Sam Northeast’s 49 and his 60-run partnership for the second wicket with opener Sean Dickson (36) stabilized Kent quickly after the fall of Daniel Bell-Drummond.Windward staged a fightback in the middle overs, claiming three wickets for 18 runs at one stage but Ball and Rouse squashed the opposition’s chances with a rapid partnership that came off 74 balls. Ball was unbeaten on 40 off 46, while Rouse scored 36 off 37 as Kent reached the target with 23 balls to spare.

Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Chris Woakes called his side’s successful defence of 131 an “unbelievable win” given that the team’s morale had been low during the innings break

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-20171:04

We were under par but showed intent – Woakes

The mood in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp was sombre during the mid-innings break after they had posted only 131 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The team, however, was in no mood to give up without a fight. Captain Gautam Gambhir wanted intensity from his men, and the fast bowlers set the tone for it. They picked up all the 10 wickets of the opposition inside as many overs, with Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme accounting for nine of those.After Royal Challengers Bangalore were sent crashing to 49 all out at the Eden Gardens, Woakes called it an “unbelievable” win not least because Knight Riders knew they had a below-par total. “The heads were down in the dressing room at half-time,” Woakes told . “But, we came out and we had a chat and we said it was time to show some pride and fight. The captain wanted some intensity and the two opening bowlers did that. The rest of us backed it up from there on. I suppose until you go out there and don’t pick wickets, you don’t believe you can do it. Once we started getting wickets, all of a sudden you had belief.”It was Coulter-Nile who had triggered the collapse by dismissing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in his first two overs before claiming Kedar Jadhav’s wicket in his third. Woakes said he could tell Coulter-Nile was in good rhythm from the way he was bowling. “It was a great opening spell of T20 bowling. He was hitting the pitch pretty hard and moving the ball well,” Coulter-Nile said. “Getting Virat Kohli first ball showed you his confidence. From then on, I suppose you just try and put the ball in your right areas and hope for the wickets to come.”Coulter-Nile, though, was more subdued in his assessment of his performance. “I would have taken any three wickets as long as I was taking wickets,” he said. “All the boys did that throughout the game and it doesn’t really matter who it is. I don’t have numbers or names in my head, but yes, pretty good players to have in the bag.” Woakes himself snared a big wicket in the form of Chris Gayle with a bit of help from Coulter-Nile, who held on to a skier. Woakes joked that while he was sure that Coulter-Nile would complete the catch, the latter’s heart would have been pounding.”When I saw Nathan under the ball, I knew he would take it. He has a safe pair of hands and I knew 99% he was going to take it,” Woakes said. “It was obviously a big wicket. But I felt AB de Villiers’s wicket was a huge one too because he came and struck a couple of boundaries early on. Getting the big three was huge, but we had to get all ten to win the game. All ten were just as important.”While Woakes felt the pitch was seamer-friendly with good pace and carry on offer, Coulter-Nile said the margin for error for bowlers was very less. “It was a tough wicket to bowl actually,” Coulter-Nile said. “If you went a little bit off, you got punished. I went for 41 the last time against Gujarat Lions. You just got to be right on the money. Sometimes you go for runs and sometimes you got the wickets. It was fun to play there.”