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Warwickshire win with three balls to spare after Jake Lintott’s quickfire 50 and contributions from Kai Smith, Rob Yates, Zen Malik and Hamza Shaikh

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay17-Aug-2025Warwickshire 310 for 7 (Lintott 50, Yates 47) beat Somerset 309 for 8 (Lammonby 100, Rew 81) by three wicketsTom Lammonby’s maiden List A century was not enough to save Somerset from a three-wicket Metro Bank One-Day Cup defeat by Warwickshire at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.The hosts posted 309 for 8 after losing the toss, opener Lammonby scoring 100 from 111 balls, with nine fours and two sixes. James Rew contributed 81, while younger brother Thomas made a rapid 41.In reply, Warwickshire reached 310 for 7 with three balls to spare, Taunton-born Jake Lintott ensuring victory with a quickfire 50 after important contributions from Kai Smith (45 not out), Rob Yates, Zen Malik and Hamza Shaikh.Somerset, who created a party atmosphere by arranging several events to mark their 150th anniversary season, made a solid start to their innings, Lammonby and Archie Vaughan taking the score to 42 in the 11th over before the latter was bowled for 20 attempting to drive a ball from Michael Booth.It was 69 for 2 when Lewis Goldsworthy was also bowled trying to slog-sweep Taz Ali in the young leg-spinner’s first over. But Lammonby was already looking in dangerous form as he moved confidently to a half-century off 65 balls.At the halfway stage of their innings, Somerset were 102 for 2. It was then that Lammonby and James Rew began to cut loose, the two left-handers delighting home supporters with some glorious stroke-play on both sides of the wicket in a partnership of 143 in 21.2 overs. Both cleared the ropes in the same over from off-spinner Yates.Skipper Rew cruised to a 46-ball fifty, with five fours and two sixes before Lammonby reached three figures with a single to the leg side off Oliver Hannon-Dalby. It was an innings of numerous sweetly-timed cover drives and very few errors.The scoreboard read 212 for 3 in the 38th over. Without a run added Lammonby top-edged a pull shot off a slower-ball bouncer from Ed Barnard to be caught at short fine leg. Rew quickly followed, bowled aiming across the line to a ball from Booth having faced 69 deliveries, and Somerset’s hopes of reaching 300 looked in jeopardy.They got there thanks to some quality hitting from Thomas Rew, including two reverse-swept sixes in the same Ali over, and a career-best 30 not out from Alfie Ogborne off just 16 balls. Josh Thomas, Ben Green and Jack Leach fell cheaply, but JT Langridge cracked 11 off four balls to end the innings with a flourish.Warwickshire’s reply had reached 36 when Ogborne struck with the last ball of the sixth over, Barnard pinned lbw on the back foot for 14.Batting was looking straightforward in the bright sunshine as Yates and Malik brought the hundred up in the 17th over. Yates had moved comfortably to 47 off 52 balls when caught behind looking to drive Green, who struck again soon afterwards when Malik offered a low return catch, having hit six fours and a six in moving smoothly to 44.It continued to be Lammonby’s day when his left-arm seam accounted for Alex Davies, who edged a pull shot through to wicketkeeper James Rew having made 17. At halfway in their innings, Warwickshire were 144 for four.Shaikh and Smith looked to be tilting things the way of the visitors with a solid half-century stand, but Shaikh became their third player to fall in the forties when caught behind off Langridge to make it 205 for 5 with the required run-rate around eight an over.Vaansh Jani pulled a flat six off Ogborne, who responded by having him caught by the diving James Rew in the same over. That brought in Lintott, who wasted no time clearing the ropes off Green.Smith was content to play a supporting role in a match-clinching stand of 65 in 8.1 overs, which saw Lintot race to a maiden List A fifty off 34 balls, with seven fours and a six, before falling with just two runs needed.

Conway will see a hand specialist in Wellington as New Zealand try to lock in selections amid high churn

Andrew McGlashan23-Feb-20241:36

Phillips on Ben Sears: ‘Fantastic to have such young talent coming through’

Devon Conway remains a doubt for the opening Test against Australia in Wellington next week and will see a hand specialist to ascertain the extent of the damage he suffered to his left thumb during the second T20I at Eden Park.Conway suffered the blow in the second over of the match when he took a sharp delivery from Adam Milne down the leg side. He was briefly treated on the field before deciding not to continue and Finn Allen took the gloves for the rest of the innings.Related

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Conway went to hospital for x-rays and did not bat during New Zealand’s chase. He was cleared of “an obvious fracture to his left thumb” but was ruled out of the final T20I and returned home to Wellington on Saturday for further assessment.”There is a little bit of concern because we are not 100% sure yet exactly how it’s going to respond over the next three or four days,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. “[We’ve] still got a little bit of time and at the end of the day think it will come down to pain management and what he can do in that space around making sure he feels comfortable at the crease.”It’s still a little bit unknown. Last night he had some strange things going with his thumb, it was clicking a little bit…but at this stage he has been cleared of a break which is great. He’ll see a hand specialist tomorrow in Wellington and we’ll find out more then.”There was a more encouraging prognosis for Rachin Ravindra after he sat out the second T20I with knee soreness. He remains with the squad but is unlikely to be risked in Sunday’s match with an eye on the Test series.Devon Conway went off after he was struck on the left thumb•Getty Images

“Not as much concern around Rachin,” Stead said. “He does have a bit of a niggly left knee. Think it’s unlikely he will play tomorrow with the Test matches in mind, but we are very confident that he will still progress well to be right for that first Test match. He’s slightly better today than what he was yesterday which is the encouraging signs we want.”Conway is penciled in to open the batting in the Test series while Ravindra is also a lock for the XI after he converted his maiden Test hundred into 240 against South Africa recently.If Conway is ruled out, Will Young would be his likely replacement at the top of the order. Young is the reserve batter in the Test squad and can cover a variety of positions. He came into side against South Africa in Hamilton as a middle-order replacement for Daryl Mitchell but can also opening the batting. Conway does not keep in the Test side with that role belonging to Tom Blundell.Tim Seifert, who himself was initially ruled out of the T20I series with an abductor injury, has been called back into the squad as Conway’s replacement for the last match of the series while Jacob Duffy has been added as fast-bowling cover. One more batter will be added after the conclusion of today’s Ford Trophy final in Christchurch.Ahead of the first Test, both Mitchell (foot) and Matt Henry (hip) are progressing well in their recoveries. “Very confident they’ll be good to go,” Stead said.Kane Williamson’s partner, Sarah, gave birth to their third child, a girl, earlier this week which ensures he will be available for the Test series having missed the T20Is.In terms of the T20I series, Stead was not overly concerned by New Zealand falling 2-0 down given the opening game went down to the last delivery then Conway’s injury meant they had to reshuffling the batting order in Auckland.”T20 cricket is pretty fickle, and that first game could have easily gone the other way,” he said. “You move on very, very quickly. We want to take the learnings and make sure we put them into practice, but there’s still a lot of good things that have come out of the last two games.”Ben Sears, for example, I thought was fantastic, a young guy early in his career. Thought Lockie Ferguson in the two games has bowled superbly well and looked somewhere back to near his best which is really exciting to see.”We are pretty realistic. Yes, we didn’t get the result we wanted last night but there are a number of guys who will come back into our side as well around the World Cup which will make a big difference in terms of experience.”

New Zealand suffer first defeat despite belligerent Glenn Phillips half-century

Matt Roller01-Nov-2022Ten days into the Super 12s, England finally turned up at the T20 World Cup and delivered a clinical performance in a must-win game against New Zealand at the Gabba. Victory in their final group game against Sri Lanka on Saturday should be enough to send them through, barring a significant net run-rate swing.Jos Buttler chose to bat first on a used pitch and produced his first significant innings of the tournament, making a superbly-paced 73 off 47 balls after two reprieves to set up England’s total of 179. He became England’s leading scorer in men’s T20Is in the process, on the night he won his 100th cap.New Zealand, who would have qualified for the knockout stages with a win, looked well-placed in the chase. After 14.4 overs, they were 119 for 2 as Glenn Phillips, picking up from where he left off against Sri Lanka, dominated a 91-run partnership with a slow-scoring Kane Williamson.Related

• Williamson is 'gold' at No.3 – Phillips backs his captain to come good at 'some point'

• Jos Buttler leads with feeling as England turn a corner in campaign

• Scenarios: What New Zealand, Australia, England and Sri Lanka need to do to make the semis

• England win tactical tussle to prevent repeat of semi-final defeat

• As it happened – England vs New Zealand in Brisbane

But unlike in last year’s semi-final in Abu Dhabi, a game which loomed large over Tuesday night’s match in Brisbane, England managed to strike regularly towards the end: Ben Stokes removed Williamson, Mark Wood rushed James Neesham, and Sam Curran closed out the win with a superb spell at the death.New Zealand’s net run rate is healthy enough that they will almost certainly qualify for the semi-finals by beating Ireland by any margin in their final group game, while Australia’s title defence is hanging by a thread on home soil: they either need to beat Afghanistan and hope England fail to beat Sri Lanka in Sydney, or thrash Afghanistan to ensure they overtake England on NRR.Buttler sets England up
Under Eoin Morgan, England were a chasing team: he did not choose to bat first in a T20I once in his last five-and-a-half years as captain. Under Buttler, there has been a shift: they have now won seven out of eight completed games when batting first since the start of July, and have posted at least 175 every time.After a relatively quiet start, seeing off Trent Boult and Tim Southee’s new-ball bursts, Alex Hales took charge in the second half of the powerplay, racing to 37 off 25 as England took 48 from the first six overs. He hit the first ball of the fifth over straight back over Southee’s head for six, then hit back-to-back boundaries through the off side.Williamson thought he had taken a huge catch to dismiss Buttler for 8 in the final powerplay over, diving low to his left to snaffle a miscue off Mitchell Santner, but replays confirmed the ball had squirmed through his hands and hit the ground before he snaffled it at the second attempt. He apologised, and said afterwards: “I knew I’d bobbled it and thought I’d squeezed it into my chest… a little bit embarrassing in the end.”England struggled against spin through the middle on a used pitch which offered plenty for Santner and Ish Sodhi, who took 2 for 48 in eight overs between them. Hales was stumped while charging Santner after reaching a 39-ball half-century, and Buttler was dropped again on 40 when Daryl Mitchell put down a straightforward chance off Lockie Ferguson.England scrape past par
England shuffled their batting line-up, with Moeen Ali promoted to No. 3 with a licence to take down spin and Dawid Malan ending up as low as No. 8. Moeen holed out to long-on before Buttler reached a 35-ball fifty, while Liam Livingstone’s bright cameo was ended by a brilliant Ferguson yorker as he attempted back-to-back scoops.New Zealand dragged things back with regular wickets: Harry Brook was caught at long-on looking for back-to-back sixes, Buttler was run out and Stokes was pinned lbw by Ferguson, but England’s lower-middle order kept on swinging and scrambled up to 179, which looked just above par.Phillips on fire
Buttler threw Moeen the new ball and was nearly rewarded with the wicket of Devon Conway, who dragged his back foot behind the crease just before Buttler whipped the bails off after Moeen beat him on the outside edge. Buttler himself was key to the wicket when Conway did fall, flinging himself low to his right as Conway attempted a paddle-scoop off Chris Woakes.When Finn Allen fell to Curran’s short ball, picking out Stokes on the rope, New Zealand were 28 for 2 after five overs and struggling, but Phillips was quickly up and running. He started streakily, inside-edging a 96mph/155kph Wood thunderbolt – the quickest ball of the World Cup to date – past his leg stump, and then survived thanks to an inexplicable drop from Moeen.Facing Adil Rashid, Phillips skewed a leading edge straight to Moeen at cover, who seemed to take his eye off the ball or lose it in the lights. He failed even to get a hand to a straightforward chance, and when Phillips crunched three sixes over the short midwicket boundary in quick succession – one off Wood, and two in a row off Rashid – it looked as though it would prove a costly drop.Clutch Curran
Stokes, who had hurt his left index finger while taking the catch to dismiss Allen, removed Williamson in his only over, the ball steered to Rashid at short third, and Buttler sensed an opportunity. He brought Wood back for the 16th over, a move vindicated by Neesham’s miscued pull, which Curran settled underneath at deep midwicket and celebrated with a roar as he turned to the crowd.Woakes, whose 19th over in the 2021 semi-final had cost 20 runs, then struck at the death as England closed in, having Daryl Mitchell caught at long-on off a slower ball by Chris Jordan, on as a substitute fielder for Livingstone. Curran then removed Phillips to end the game as a contest, again caught by Jordan, and closed it out with a combination of yorkers, bouncers and slower balls at the death.

Pepper, Wheater make light work of run-chase to hand Eagles victory on DLS method

ECB Reporters Network29-Jun-2021Michael Pepper scored his maiden Vitality Blast half-century as Essex Eagles beat Somerset by six wickets on DLS to maintain their hopes of qualifying for the knockouts.Pepper, in his 18th T20 appearance, struck a chase-perfect 55 off 35 balls, having put on 80 with Adam Wheater for the third wicket.Simon Harmer had bedazzled Somerset as he claimed 4 for 24 – his second successive four-for – while New Zealander Devon Conway made it back-to-back half-centuries as he glued the innings of 153 together.That was before Pepper and Wheater made short shrift of the run-chase to win with five balls to spare – and give the Eagles only their fourth T20 victory at the Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford, since the beginning of the 2018 season.Somerset were stuck in by the Eagles on a hybrid pitch being used for the fourth time – a fact that made the proficiency of spin no surprise.The visitors, on the back of chasing down 168 without losing a wicket against Kent Spitfires the previous evening, started off with stands of 30, 31 and 46 as they reached 77 for 2 at the half-way point – with Tom Banton caught at mid-on and Will Smeed sweeping Harmer to the square leg boundary.Harmer then grabbed three wickets in an over – Lewis Goldsworthy caught at midwicket, Tom Lammonby lbw and Lewis Gregory chipping into the leg side – as Somerset lost seven wickets in 26 balls.Ben Green skied Aron Nijjar, Craig Overton edged to short third man, Marchant de Lange was caught by Pepper running in from long on and Conway – having struck his fifty in 42 balls – picked out deep midwicket. From the last ball of the innings Sam Cook castled Max Waller to land on 153.Michael Pepper catches Marchant De Lange•Getty Images

After a delayed start to their innings, Wheater and Will Buttleman were both dropped before another rain break saw an over chopped off and the target revised to 148.The rain subsided and saw Buttleman drill to backward point and Dan Lawrence fluffed his slog to long off to leave Essex in danger of collapsing on 35 for 2.But Wheater and Pepper recovered with a brilliantly paced innings, which initially matched the DLS score before occasionally cutting loose to reach a 50 stand in 31 balls.The partnership was eventually broken on 80 as Wheater was caught at short cover for 49 before de Lange pinned back Jimmy Neesham’s leg stump.Pepper was dropped with 15 still needed before cutting to bring up his fifty – with Ryan ten Doeschate smashing Jack Brooks for six over long on to win the match.

MPCA life member Sanjeev Gupta points to India captain’s positions in two business ventures

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2020A conflict of interest complaint has been filed against Virat Kohli for his positions in two business ventures, something his management company has termed as “absurd and entirely based on conjecture”.Complainant Sanjeev Gupta, a life member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, wrote an email to BCCI ethics officer-cum-ombudsman Justice (retd) DK Jain and a number of BCCI executives, including president Sourav Ganguly and CEO Rahul Johri, arguing that Kohli’s various posts were in violation of the BCCI constitution.In his complaint filed on July 4, Gupta said that Kohli’s co-directors at Virat Kohli Sports (LLP) and Cornerstone Venture Partners (LLP) were also directors in Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment Private Limited, a talent agency that contracts Indian cricketers and handles their branding and commercial interests. Justice Jain said he was examining the complaint.”Shri Virat Kohli is occupying two posts at a time in blatant violation to BCCI Rule 38 (4) approved by Supreme Court Of India. As such, he must relinquish his one post at once in compliance. His two posts are covered as under: A – 38(4)(a) – Player and B – 38(4)(o) – Contractual Entity, to be read with BCCI Rule 38(1) (iii),” Gupta’s complaint said.Rule 38(4) of the BCCI constitution prevents individuals from holding more than one of 16 posts: player (current), selector/member of cricket committee, team official, commentator, match official, administrator/office bearer, electoral officer, ombudsman & ethics officer, auditor, any person who is governance, management or employee of a franchisee, member of a standing committee, CEO & managers, office Bearer of a Member (state association), service provider (legal, financial etc.), contractual entity (broadcast, security, contractor etc.) and owner of cricket academy.”I have received a complaint,” Justice Jain told PTI on Sunday. “I will examine it and then see if the case is made out or not. If yes, then I have to afford an opportunity to him (Kohli) to respond.”On Monday, Bunty Sajdeh, CEO of Cornerstone Sports and Entertainment Private Limited, responded with a clarification through a statement. “As a responsible agency, we once again reiterate that there is no conflict of interest with Virat or any of our other talent for that matter,” Sajdeh said. “But third parties with whatever vested interests prefer to think otherwise. I request them to simply check facts before jumping to their own conclusions.”Gupta had previously filed conflict of interest complaints against Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman and also Rahul Dravid. In each of those instances, the ethics officer had served notices based on the complaints, but the former cricketers were eventually cleared. 12.30GST The story has been updated to reflect Cornerstone’s response to the complaint

The India captain said it had become a ‘talking point every game’ and that a review that didn’t go their way was a “game-changer moment”

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Mar-2019Australia chased down the fifth-highest target in ODIs on Sunday in Mohali, probably their favourite ground in India having won some memorable matches including the 1996 World Cup semi-final against West Indies and the thrilling chase in the third ODI of the 2013 series. That chase of 304 was engineered by James Faulkner, and more than five years later, Ashton Turner stunned Virat Kohli’s men who also had to battle the dew in addition to several muffed chances in the field. While reviewing the defeat, Kohli said towards the end of the post-match presentation that DRS “was not consistent at all” and that a review that didn’t go India’s way was a “game-changer” moment. Here’s what all he said at the presentation:On what went wrong“The wicket remained good throughout. We’ve been on the wrong side of the dew twice in two games, but that’s not an excuse. Especially with five down, giving 10 runs an over in the end was a bit of a harsh pill to swallow, but, look, it was very difficult to bowl in the end. The guys tried their best, but Ashton played a hell of a knock. [Peter] Handscomb played a really good innings too, to hold the innings together. [Usman] Khawaja was good again, but I think Ashton was the gamechanger.”If he took dew into account while opting to bat“[In the] last game we were told there was going to be dew, we were on the wrong side of that. We had a good wicket to bat on, [and] Australia would have done the same. So, again they just played better again in the second innings, and that’s something you just have to accept. It’s a record chase for them and they deserved to win in the end. So we wanted to bat first anyway. It was never a confusion in our minds, we wanted to bat first anyway.”On delaying the introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal (the legspinner came on to bowl after 19 overs when Australia were 105 for 2)“We had to get the fifth bowler out of the way. If Kedar [Jadhav] and Vijay [Shankar] were bowling with the dew, it was going to be even more difficult. It was always going to be tough for the bowlers who are not specialist bowlers, so we wanted to get the 10 overs out of the way first. We backed Chahal to bowl. He is a wristspinner and they go get some purchase off the pitch. But in the end, you can see it even standing now, it became too wet to bowl and just those last three-four overs for everyone was the difficult part. I think the first part of the bowling was fine, and they did a pretty good job. But in the end they were going pretty hard, and it was difficult to bowl in the right areas.”On how damaging the fielding goof-ups were“Yeah, crucial. We were sloppy in the field. We were not at our best, and we should have grabbed those chances and made the most of the opportunity when it came by. But the DRS call (when Turner was ruled not out on review for a caught behind when he was on 41 and Australia still needed 66 from 39 deliveries) as well, was a bit of a surprise for all of us. It’s becoming more of a talking point every game. It’s just not consistent at all, and that was a game-changer moment as well. But yeah, that’s more of an uncontrollable, but the controllable we had to do right, and we didn’t do it right, and the opportunity slipped away.”

AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris will move closer to their Test returns when they play for the South African Invitation XI against Zimbabwe in a three-day warm-up match ahead of the Boxing Day Test

Firdose Moonda05-Dec-2017AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris will move closer to their Test returns when they play for the South African Invitation XI against Zimbabwe in a three-day warm-up match in Paarl ahead of the Boxing Day Test. Temba Bavuma is the other Test player included in the squad for the practice match ahead of an eight-Test home summer.South Africa play Zimbabwe in the inaugural four-day day-night Test starting Boxing Day, followed by three Tests against India before six ODIs and three T20s, and then four Tests against Australia in March. De Villiers and Steyn’s participation in those matches will be of particular interest, not least because of the amount of time for which the pair has been absent.De Villiers has not played a Test since January 2016 with his absence a combination of an injury layoff, that kept him out of series against New Zealand and Australia, and a self-imposed sabbatical that sidelined him from most of this year, during which South Africa have already played Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh. While de Villiers remained available for limited-overs matches, he stepped down as ODI captain in August and has now recommitted himself to playing for South Africa across all formats, while limiting his participation in 20-over leagues.He has only played one first-class match – for his franchise Titans – since he reaffirmed his international goals, but has recent good form on his side. De Villiers scored a career-best ODI score of 176 against Bangladesh in Paarl in his first bat of the home summer and has been scoring important, quick runs for Titans in their ongoing Ram Slam campaign.Despite those runs, de Villiers said he is prepared to work for his place in the Test team and re-enters the space with an understanding that South Africa’s line-up may not have space for him immediately. Four of the top five in the line-up scored centuries in South Africa’s most recent outing against Bangladesh with Bavuma the odd one out, but that may not mean a straight swap for the Zimbabwe match. Bavuma was recently promoted to de Villiers’ No. 4 role and has often dug South Africa out of tough situations and the selectors seem to want to keep him around. Bavuma will also play the warm-up match against Zimbabwe, knowing the man who may replace him in the Test team is right beside him.”Temba only got limited batting time during the Test series against Bangladesh because of the dominance of our top order and we feel he will benefit from spending more time in the middle,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors said.Similarly, South Africa could end up spoilt for choice in the bowling department. Steyn, who has not played any international cricket for over a year since breaking a bone in his shoulder in Australia last November, has showed good signs in the Ram Slam and will also return to contend for a place in the Test XI. He needs just five wickets to overtake Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s highest Test wicket-taker and coach Ottis Gibson all but confirmed his chance to claim those will come as soon as Steyn himself feels he is ready for Test cricket.Bowling longer spells has been part of Steyn’s recovery plan but the warm-up match against Zimbabwe will be his first chance to show that he can do that in a competitive situation. If he comes through, he will join a pack that includes Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander (who is currently sidelined after having stitches to the hand but is expected to be fit in a week), but not Morne Morkel, who was not named in the squad for the warm-up game. Morkel sustained a side strain in the first Test against Bangladesh in early October and though he has been spotted in the Newlands nets, he has not played any part in the Ram Slam competition yet. He is expected to return later in the summer.That means Morris, who picked up a lower-back problem in England in July, could make a case to add to his four Tests. Morris returned from five months on the sidelines in the Ram Slam last week. His return to international cricket will be welcome news for South Africa, who are still compiling a second-tier of international bowlers. Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, who has come back following a back problem but is not in the warm-up squad, and Duanne Olivier, who had a knee injury earlier in the season but has since recovered, are among those reserves who have not been named for the warm-up match. Wayne Parnell, who played the second Test against Bangladesh, then got injured and was then dropped by Cape Cobras in the Ram Slam, has also been overlooked.The warm-up match will be played at Boland Park under lights, before the Test takes place at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.South African Invitation squad: Dominic Hendricks (capt), Temba Bavuma, Tladi Bokako, Michael Cohen, AB de Villiers, Isaac Dikgale, Leus du Plooy, Zubayr Hamza, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rapulana, Kelly Smuts, Dale Steyn, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Shaun von Berg, Lizaad Williams

Tom Harrison has insisted the ECB’s treatment of Durham has been harsh but “appropriate”

George Dobell23-Oct-2016Tom Harrison has insisted the ECB’s treatment of Durham has been harsh but “appropriate”.Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, defended the decision to relegate Durham in the County Championship, impose a raft of points deductions in each of the 2017 domestic competitions and withdraw their status as a Test-hosting ground in return for a financial rescue package as a necessary “deterrent” to other counties.And while he did not fully confront the ECB’s role in Durham’s failure – notably its encouragement of the club building a Test venue – he did suggest Durham had to take responsibility for bidding more than they could afford in the pursuit of major matches.”Having been through the most serious financial crisis any county has been through – to the extent that the ECB was the last resort – we have to send a message to the other counties that this is not something that is going to be an attractive solution for any county finding themselves in that position,” Harrison told the BBC’s Test Match Special. “It’s not the ECB’s job to be the lender of last resort.”In any business, you have to understand what your revenue is and what your costs are. If one gets out of whack it is not a pretty situation and it will end up hitting the wall at some point. The ECB had to step in to stop that happening in May or June this year. It was going to happen unless we had taken steps to avoid it.”While it is very harsh in terms of the immediate penalties on the players for next year, I think it is appropriate and sends the message to other counties that this should be a significant deterrent. The playing sanctions are harsh but they are appropriate.”Harrison accepted that the ECB’s historic method for allocating games, which involved a bidding system, might have contributed to Durham’s debts, but suggested the club had to take most of the responsibility. And he insisted that the measures taken had provided Durham with the foundations for financial stability in the future.”The way matches were allocated was a bidding structure,” he said. “But no one was forced to bid a certain amount. There’s wasn’t a sword of Damocles over their head about having to stage Tests.”Our absolute priority was to safeguard the future of professional and recreational cricket in the northeast of England. Durham could now be in a position where, 12 months after the most serious financial crisis that’s met any county, they are off and running with no debt and a new management structure and can look forward to the future in a very different way than when they were burdened by debt.”Harrison also referred to the new-team domestic T20 competition – now set for a 2020 launch – as “the most significant development in county cricket in a generation”. Counties agreed to explore the proposals at an ECB meeting in September but the implementation has been delayed as discussions continue.

Uncapped Karnataka seamer S Aravind has reacted to his recall to the India squad for the T20 internationals against South Africa by saying he was “expecting this”

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-20150:57

Agarkar: Hope Aravind gets opportunity to showcase skills at this level

Uncapped Karnataka seamer S Aravind has reacted to his recall to the India squad for the T20 internationals against South Africa by saying he was “expecting this”. Aravind had received his maiden international call-up in 2011 for the home ODIs against England, but was soon out of the fray with an injury that kept him out of action for four weeks.”I was so happy and excited when I heard of this call-up. It has been a long journey and I was expecting this,” Arvind told . “In 2011 it was very surprising for me. This time I was much more prepared. Since the last time, I have improved my bowling and worked really hard to get better as a bowler.”Aravind was the fourth highest wicket-taker in Karnataka’s victorious Ranji Trophy campaign last season, and second highest for his team, with 42 wickets at an average of 17.42 from ten matches. Since his call-up in 2011, Aravind has taken 62 wickets at an average of 25.80 in 21 first-class matches, and 18 wickets from 16 T20s with an economy of 8.28. Aravind was recently picked for the India A one-day matches against Bangladesh A and he returned figures of 2 for 14, 0 for 56 and 3 for 29.”Since the injury, I have improved my fitness levels, worked on my bowling action and in getting the right lengths,” he said. “The work I have put into my fitness has also helped me add a couple of yards of pace in my bowling. Now I am much more experienced and I can handle the pressure in the right way. I have reached a place where I am mature enough to put all the pressure aside and focus on what needs to be done.”Aravind, a left-arm pacer, has played for Royal Challengers Bangalore for three seasons – 2011, 2012 and 2015, sharing the dressing room with Zaheer Khan. This year he featured in five IPL matches, taking eight wickets, and got a chance to bowl with Mitchell Starc. Aravind is also the only left-arm seamer in India’s T20 squad, which lacks a proper fast bowler.”I have learned many things from him [Zaheer] as to what difference a left-arm pacer can make to the team,” Aravid said. “He kept it very simple. He always talked about bowling hard lengths and reading the batsman so you can be one up against him. I also learned a lot from him in terms of forming different plans to counter each batsman based on his skills. There was one thing he told me that has stuck with me. He said, ‘We, as bowlers, have six balls in an over whereas a batsman, once he gets out, doesn’t have another opportunity’. That mindset has helped me be more confident about my own bowling.”Mitchell Starc has been very helpful. The most important thing I’ve learnt from him was how to bowl yorkers effectively based on the wicket you are bowling on.”If Aravind is picked in the India XI, he will get a chance to bowl to his Royal Challengers team-mate AB de Villiers. Aravind said de Villiers had also offered him many tips and he would share his observations on bowling to the South Africa batsman in the Indian dressing room.”I bowl a lot to AB de Villiers in the nets and have learned many things about how to bowl to him. If I can share the information with my team-mates, it will help not only me but also the other bowlers when we play South Africa. AB gave me helpful pointers from the batsman’s perspective when I bowled to him in the nets – what delivery he finds tough to deal with and how I can trouble the batsman more if I change the angle or the length.”

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has asked Sri Lanka players to boycott the IPL if they are unable to play at all venues in the country

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2013Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has asked Sri Lankan cricketers to put their pride before money and boycott this season’s IPL unless they are allowed to play at all venues.”If you are not welcome in one part of the country then why play in other venues just because of the money,” Ranatunga asked.He was speaking to the in response to the IPL governing council’s decision to bar Sri Lankan players from playing in Chennai, because of growing political tensions in Tamil Nadu stemming from the treatment of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka.Ranatunga, currently a Member of Parliament for Kalutara district in Sri Lanka, said he believed this decision was nothing more than politics and sport being intertwined, and that cricketers were easy prey because of the fan following and media scrutiny they deal with on a daily basis.”It won’t be easy for players to say no to their pay cheques but at times one has to stand up and say ‘no thank you’ rather than compromise for the sake of money,” he said. “Sri Lankan cricketers are not as well-paid as some of their counterparts and playing in the IPL is a huge attraction but by giving the tournament a skip they make a statement.”He said the decision would be a loss only for the IPL, as the tournament would be without some of the best players from Sri Lanka.